Gateway

 Pohl wrote lots of books(and still is actually), but if you are only going to read one, this is it.

 Gateway is a great little book about a man named Broadhead who wins the lottery, that is the lottery that sends you off to Gateway, a space station built to house and maintain the small alien space craft that were discovered here in our own solar system.
    Each alien craft can only fit a few people, lottery winners can volunteer for missions, launching into the unknown in a craft they don't fully understand, and hoping it isn't a one way ticket to nowhere.

 There are also segments where an older Broadhead  recounts his story to a robotic shrink named Sigfrid.

 A deft SF read, not the strongest on characterization, but doesn't weight you down with exposition so it works something akin Arthur C. Clark.

 Pohl's Blog: click

9.0/10