This is qualified as hard sci-fi, although being written in 1980, some of the science is slightly out of date, although not badly. In the not-too-distant future, researchers at Caltech discover a star closer to Earth than any other, located just below the constellation Draco, hence the name Drgon's Egg. It's a neutron star--a collapsed star that is very, very small (about 20km across) and dense and not very bright. A few generations later humans send out a manned spaceship to investigate it more closely. What they discover shocks and amazes them: intelligent life on the surface of the star! Most of the story is told from the point of view of the cheela, the lifeforms on Dragon's Egg. How does life survive in a place with so much gravity that molecules can't even exist? This book is similar to Hal Clement's "Mission of Gravity" (written in 1953) only moreso. A very good read with lots of interesting science (including a 20-page appendix for more details) and lots of ideas to think about long after you're done reading. This book has a sequel, "Starquake," which I look forward to reading.

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