Incandescence

The novel follows a fragmented alien species called the Aloof living inside the accretion disk of a massive black hole. As their world is threatened by catastrophic meteor strikes, a group of scientists must deduce the laws of physics to survive. They essentially have to independently discover general relativity from scratch to predict the violent gravitational shifts around them.

The book was written by Greg Egan, an acclaimed Australian science fiction author known for his deeply complex hard sci-fi. Egan is famous for exploring concepts like extreme physics, artificial intelligence, and the nature of consciousness. Incandescence is widely considered one of his most ambitious scientific thought experiments.

Yes, Incandescence is widely considered a very dense and challenging read because it dives deeply into advanced orbital mechanics and astrophysics. Egan does not hold the reader's hand, often presenting the physics problems exactly as the aliens perceive them. It is highly recommended for readers who love mathematical concepts and rigorous hard science fiction.

The core of the novel revolves around the alien discovery of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. Because the aliens live in a region of extreme gravitational time dilation, their physical reality is vastly different from ours. The book meticulously demonstrates how an isolated civilization could mathematically prove general relativity without looking at the stars.