Blue Machine

Reviews

A spectacular read. [Czerski's] profound, sparkling global ocean voyage mingles history and culture, natural history, geography, animals and people. 'Czerski aims to greatly expand and even revolutionise the reader's understanding of what is going on in seven tenths of the planet that is not covered in land Splendid Helen Czerski's fascinating new book casts the ocean as an extraordinary giant engine, and helps us grasp its complex physicsand its key role in climate change 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. In this captivating and urgently-needed book, Czerski weaves a wonderful, watery spell, entwining spectacular science with poetic awe as she expertly guides readers through the workings of a vast, unfamiliar world. Moving and thrilling, The Blue Machine tells us about the seas but also makes us care: an epic love story that captures the ocean's beating heart. 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. JUNE BOOK OF THE MONTH: 'Physicist Helen Czerski offers a very different perspective on the ocean in her revelatory book... Published ahead of World Ocean Day on 8th June, it unlocks a treasure chest of enthralling stories; from the navigators of ancient Polynesia, and the marvels of plankton, to John Steinbeck's Cannery Row and the copious tears cried by turtles. Lively and engrossing ... Alongside her vivid portrayal of waters sliding over one another, colliding, mixing andturning into ice or water vapour, she explains how the living beings within the sea alsoform 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. Expand reviews