Hi Scifiwizard Retired
I took a peek at your assignment too, you have really put a lot of thought into this. I can imagine you are a bit like me, and have been researching setting concepts for ... possibly years!?

Something I wanted to say though, is the bit about his parents making him memorize the encyclopedia. That statement introduced disbelief into my mind, because, well isn't that actually impossible? If you removed that line it would lead (my mind anyhow) into the unfolding science tale better.