SOLVED. Adult SciFi. Colony ship in route to new settle new planet, ship with two distinct groups-the crew, and the colonists. When ship reaches destination, planet found to be inhabited by species looking like bats. Read around 2012-2016. [s]

[AJ]

opens with colonist girl wondering about her father? who seems to be one founders of colonists. Girl writes blog that is very popular. every one on ship must spend some time learning othe half, ie, colonists learn ship functions, ship people learn colonial life. Beings on planet have four digits on hand & so use an eight based math system. They live and towers and fly by going out windows.

[David]

Maybe Learning the World: A Scientific Romance(2006) by Ken MacLeod?

The reviews mention the aliens are bird/bat like, and TvTropes says they use a base 8 system because of they are four-fingered. It also mentions that the aliens were confused with humans using base 10.

I saw a couple other options, but this seems the most promising.

[Sue]

I would also go for Learning the World. It’s a book I really enjoyed.

[AJ]

YES!! Learning the World is it. Now having authors name I checked, and have added some his other titles to me "re-read" list as well. Thank you very much