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Just finished "Mission of Gravity" by Hal Clement, which is in an omnibus called "Heavy Planet", containing Clement's collected "Mesklin" books and stories.
This is an SF classic. Mesklin is a planet with a hydrogen atmosphere and methane oceans on which the surface gravity at the poles is 700 times that of Earth, and is, therefore, inaccessible to humans. When a scientific spacecraft sent to the planet to conduct gravity research that can't be done elsewhere fails to take off again, the scientists seek the aid of one of the local inhabitants, a centipede-like being who is a sea-captain in a civilisation with a mediaeval level of technology. Excellent "hard SF". I think I've read this before, but it was many years (more likely decades) ago. Highly recommended.
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