Dragon's Egg
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 . . .
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What you might want to know about Dragon's Egg
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A human probe orbits a neutron star and observes a flat civilization of high-density cheela living on its surface. Because their time runs about a million times faster, the cheela go from fire to starflight in a week.
Yes. Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward is widely cited as one of the most rigorous hard science fiction novels ever written. Forward was an actual physicist, and the cheela civilization on a neutron star is built on detailed physics.
Yes. Robert L. Forward wrote a sequel, Starquake, published in 1985, which continues the story of the cheela. The two books are often packaged together.
Dragon's Egg was written by Robert L. Forward, published in 1980 by Random House Publishing Group.
Dragon's Egg is 309 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Dragon's Egg takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
Dragon's Egg is a standalone novel by Robert L. Forward, not part of a series.
Dragon's Egg is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
