Name: Dragon's Egg
ISBN: 9780345435293

Robert L. Forward

On a neutron star, the cheela, a form of intelligent life whose hour equals more than one hundred human years, struggle to progress from the beginnings of agriculture to the discovery of science. Reprint.

Dragon's Egg

Sarah Sammis

“In science fiction there is only a handful of books that stretch the mind—and this is one of them.”—Arthur C. Clarke In a moving story of sacrifice and triumph, human scientists establish a relationship with intelligent lifeforms—the cheela—living on Dragon’s Egg, a neutron star where one Earth hour is equivalent to hundreds of their years. The cheela culturally evolve from savagery to the discovery of science, and for a brief time, men are their diligent teachers. Praise for Dragon’s Egg “Bob Forward writes in the tradition of Hal Clement’s Mission of Gravity and carries it a giant step (how else?) forward.”—Isaac Asimov “Dragon’s Egg is superb. I couldn’t have written it; it required too much real physics.”—Larry Niven “This is one for the real science-fiction fan.”—Frank Herbert “Robert L. Forward tells a good story and asks a profound question. If we run into a race of creatures who live a hundred years while we live an hour, what can they say to us or we to them?”—Freeman J. Dyson “Forward has impeccable scientific credentials, and . . . big, original, speculative ideas.”—The Washington Post

A Novel

Michael Springer

Alright, here's the basic gist: intelligent life lives on a planet that rotates five times per second. Because of the speed of rotation, gravity is very strong, and the life forms come out very unusual. Meanwhile, we Earthlings have discovered this asteroid, and send a research team to check it out. 

The thing is, not only do these creatures live on a quickly spinning planet, they LIVE faster than we do. They think faster, age faster, and develop faster. For each Earthling 15 minute period, a generation passes on their planet.

During a very brief researching period, the astronauts watch as this strange and quick culture develops from barely using a number system to...well, doing much more than add numbers. 

It took me a while to get into this book, partially because the human characters (and, one could argue, the alien characters) are very flat. The guys all seem intelligent, the girls all seem intelligent and hot. Most of the human character interaction is scientific banter that only makes a little sense. 

But, the individual characters in this book are secondary to the relationship between these two vastly different cultures. What the book lacks in character development it makes up for with the immensely creative world that Forward has created. This book is very fun, very original, and has a quite rewarding ending. And Forward does it in less than 300 pages. So, if your curiosity has been piqued, track down a copy and enjoy.

Cindy Lieberman

3.5. Well conceived science book but only lightly plotted with little suspense. Interesting and thought provoking

Dragon's Egg

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