Blue Machine: How the Ocean Shapes Our World

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This is a fascinating book about the ocean and how it shapes our world, how it impacts our lives and how it helps us today. The author does include science in this book, but it is explained in a way that is completely understandable to a non-science-brained person. This beautifully written, sweeping guide shows how the deep movement of the seas have ruled our lives in unexpected ways over millennia." A dazzle of stories beautifully told...Czerski argues throughout that to truly see the miraculous oceans, to understand and to feel our connection to them, is vital and integral to our history and our future. Her outstanding book advances that understanding and honours that connection. Her readers will see the seas anew. Horatio Clare, Telegraph The oceans are full of water, and water is just water, so there’s not much to know, right? Wrong. Far from being homogenous, the water in our oceans varies in temperature, salinity and depth, among other things. It’s affected by the weather and affects the weather. Some parts are well mixed and others remain stratified. I recommend Blue Machine if you want to find out more about how whales are affected by war and where there’s a secret sound tunnel.

Awash with fascinating facts. Helen Czerski writes with authority, passion, and an easy conversational style. You will want to be out there on the ice and ocean with her. I loved it." - Hugh Aldersey-Williams, author of The Tide: The Science and Stories Behind the Greatest Force on Earth The blue of Earth is a gigantic engine, a dynamic liquid powerhouse that stretches around our planet and is connected to every part of our lives. It has components on every scale, from the mighty Gulf Stream gliding across the Atlantic to the tiny bubbles bursting at the top of a breaking wave. This is a beautiful, elegant, tightly woven system, full of surprising connections and profound consequences. Czerski’s] profound, sparkling global ocean voyage mingles history and culture, natural history, geography, animals and people. The world needs a 'David Attenborough for physics' and Helen Czerski is a prime contender - she's brilliant, clear, passionate, modern and inspiring. Emma Freud, BBC Radio 4 Loose EndsIn Helen Czerski's hands, the mechanical becomes magical. An instant classic. Tristan Gooley, author of How to Read Water Helen Czerski weaves together physics and biology, history and science, in a beautifully poetic way.' Czerski's] profound, sparkling global ocean voyage mingles history and culture, natural history, geography, animals and people. Andrew Robinson, Nature

While it was all good and entertaining, the author really found her voice in Part Three of the book: The Blue Machine and Us. It was also in this section that I found the real flaws of this book as well. I get that 'the road to disaster is paved with good intentions' and that the ocean is so complex, and there's no way to begin to harness hydropower without having unintended consequences. However, in then in the next line- "one thing we know for sure is that we need to wean ourselves off greenhouse gasses." The author making the point that we need to learn how to live with the ocean, but doesn't want that to have unintended consequences, but also recognizes the need for somewhat drastic change because humanities current course of action is having disastrous effects on our environment, but doesn't want to propose any recommendations. I love Helen Czerski's writing, and this is her richest work yet – as clear as springwater, yet as filled with fascinating things as the ocean itself." A fascinating dive into the essential engine that drives our world. Czerski brings the oceans alive with compelling stories that masterfully navigate this most complex system. Gaia VinceHelen Czerski's fascinating new book casts the ocean as an extraordinary giant engine, and helps us grasp its complex physics and its key role in climate change" Although I was looking forward to the chapter on “voyagers” – and Czerski is passionate on the Hawaiian and Polynesian arts of canoeing and navigating at sea – it contains the only error I could identify. Comparing the operation of a sailing ship with that of a steamer or motorised vessel, and lamenting the loss of the human-ocean connection that tall ships demand of their crews, she writes: Modern ocean science, combining local measurements, long-haul efforts like CPRs, and new remote observations from surface probes and satellites, has pieced together a grand picture of this vital part of the Earth system, so often unregarded by landlubbers. And Helen Czerski, urging us to see the ocean as a presence, not an absence, has done a remarkable job of shoehorning an overview of the whole shebang into a single, very readable volume.

Helen Czerski's absorbing Storm in a Teacup stands head and shoulders above other popular science books. Irish TImesNext time you look up and see a plane cruising high above you at 30,000 feet or more, imagine that you are looking up from the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean to the surface. That’s how much ocean there is. And then imagine all the things that can happen in an ocean that size”. In Helen Czerski's hands, the mechanical becomes magical. An instant classic." - Tristan Gooley, author of How to Read Water: Clues and Patterns from Puddles to the Sea Helen Czerski weaves together physics and biology, history and science, in a beautifully poetic way. Fascinating, funny, and deeply moving. From vast currents and tides to the smallest creatures that inhabit our oceans she reveals the spellbinding wonder of the oceans. From the opening paragraph, I was entranced." - Professor Alice Roberts A scientist’s exploration of the “ocean engine”—the physics behind the ocean’s systems—and why it matters. Lively and engrossing [...] Alongside her vivid portrayal of waters sliding over one another, colliding, mixing and turning into ice or water vapour, she explains how the living beings within the sea also form part of the 'blue machine' [...] [Cerzski's personal experience of both Polynesian canoes off Hawaii and ice floes near the North Pole is not icing on the cake but part of the argument of this excellent and important book."

The world needs a 'David Attenborough for physics' and Helen Czerski is a prime contender - she's brilliant, clear, passionate, modern and inspiring.' - Emma Freud, BBC Radio 4 Loose Ends A scientist’s exploration of the "ocean engine"—the physics behind the ocean’s systems—and why it matters.The Blue Machine is a point of departure, a map for further exploration. Not since reading The Diversity of Life by E.O. Wilson have I read a book as timely, salient, and informative. Todd L Capson, Science This brilliantly organised account of it will change the way you see the world, and its colossal oceanic expanses. There is indeed a great blue engine, regulating the circulatory systems of our home world. It is, as Czerski puts it, the beating heart of the planet. Jon Turney, Arts Desk I want specifics, (more than stop using single use plastic water bottles) because I know she has them. Maybe they will be in the next book, but until then, part three of this novel falls short of what it could have been. A love letter to the oceans, without a plan for how to save them before it's too late. An extraordinary & captivating read on oceans, revealing their profound influence on our world. Czerski's approach to oceanography is extensively eye-opening yet accessible, making this book an essential read for everyone to understand the intricate interplay between the ocean, climate, ecosystems, & human civilisation. The term "Blue Machine" is a metaphor used to describe the Earth's oceans as a complex, interconnected system that plays a fundamental role in shaping our planet's climate, ecosystems, & even human civilisation.