Dragon's Egg

Author: Robert L. Forward

Dragon's Egg by Robert L Forward is the story of a civilisation that grows fast enough for humans to observe - with each day of the new civilisation being equivalent to a mere 0.2 human seconds. It's also been described by it's author as 'a textbook on neutron star physics disguised as a novel', so you can be sure that when we say it's hard science fiction, we mean it. Typically of hard science fiction, it's not really about the characters - this is a story of a world, and hence it's the world-building that's important. And what world-building! We see the evolution of mathematics, writing and religion, before it spirals upwards into the realms of technologies far beyond us. This is a book which is epic in scope, and all through a tiny lens. It comes it at number seventeen on our list of top hard science fiction books thanks to its recommendations by the big league writers - Niven, Asimov and Herbert are all fans. If that recommendation doesn't appeal to you, then why on earth are you trusting us?

Books in Cheela Series (1)

Starquake