Robert L. Forward (1932-2002) was better known as a physicist than a novelist. He worked on such science-fictionally hip projects as gravitational waves and the technology for spacecraft tethers. His first novel, Dragon’s Egg (1980), was inspired by Hal Clement's Mission of Gravity (1953), in which the crew of a human spacecraft interacts with a species on a high-gravity planet. In Dragon’s Egg, a human crew studies a fast-evolving species on the surface of a neutron star.
Like Clement, Forward was careful to keep his speculation scientifically accurate. He has been quoted as saying that his story was a textbook on neutron stars in novel form. The novel has a clever appendix explaining the physics. Its bibliography includes some fictional future works and some of Forward’s own scientific publications. I think I should have read it first.
The common complaint about his writing is that his character development is minimal. True enough, though I did root for several of his crab-like aliens. I also appreciated the timely case he makes for appreciating the talent of women in physics.
If your taste in science fiction runs to the hard stuff, you should relish a little Dragon’s Egg. ( )

If you can get past the rampant sexism, hamfisted dialogue, inexplicable alien orgies, and detachment from all realistic human behavior, there's actually an interesting physics thought experiment here. ( )

Wow, this book surprised me and I am glad I stuck with it. Let me explain. When I started reading/listening to this book I will be honest and say that much of it was going over my head. The scientific descriptions of the sun and the dragon eggs star were something I was not understanding, and I tended to skim or daydream at first. Then the whole descriptions of the cheela's evolution and growth as a society was to me a yawner. But I stuck with it, mainly because this is a short book compared to some I read.
Sticking with it paid off for me. I cannot say much more I think but once communication between the cheela and the humans is attempted it started getting much more interesting. By the end of it I had that "sense of wonda" that I really enjoy.
So, give it try and stick with it. ( )

The concept is brilliant: intelligent life evolves on a neutron star, which means they experience the world a million times faster than us.

The question of how to communicate with a being whose lifespan unfolds over your coffee break adds an interesting personal dimension, as we see relationships develop in which each side has a very different experience of their shared time. The progress of the civilisation as a whole is just as compelling. The cheela (inhabitants of the neutron star), while capable of reasoning and abstract thought, had been acting essentially on instinct, under the harsh constraints of their environment. But with the slightest prod from human contact, they explode into civilisation.

Given their ability to spend a lifetime planning a response to any move from the humans, the cheela are able to run rings around us; no spoilers, though, about what they choose to do.

As usual, I'd love to be able to read a book like this without having to hear how hot all the female scientists are, but hey. ( )

good structure and good science, but dialogue is dry and some parts too long and boring; did not appreciate alien Messiah parallels; good beginning, great ending ( )