Publishers Weekly
★ 08/21/2023
University College London oceanographer Czerski (Storm in a Teacup) takes readers on a riveting “voyage through the global ocean,” exploring its role in the planet’s ecosystem and human cultures. The ocean “acts as an energy reservoir for the whole planet,” Czerski contends, noting that the ocean’s ability to store energy from the sun as heat during warmer months and release it when the air cools keeps the planet from experiencing “huge swings in temperature” that would be difficult for living organisms to survive. The ocean’s microscopic residents can make big waves, she points out, explaining that as each hemisphere enters spring, the longer days lead to the proliferation of photosynthesizing plankton, which in turn draw larger creatures that feed on them and create mobile “rainforests” as they’re carried together by currents. The cultural history fascinates, covering how surfing’s importance to Hawaiian culture (kings and queens had “their own special surfboards”) owes much to the rarity of squalls and gales on the islands, and how the historical markers of shipwrecks posted around Reykjavik’s harbor betray Iceland’s wary relationship with the surrounding ocean, which “can be fierce.” Wide-ranging and meticulously detailed, this captures the wonder, beauty, and intrigue of its subject. (Oct.)
Emma Freud
"The world needs a ‘David Attenborough for physics’ and Helen Czerski is a prime contender—she’s brilliant, clear, passionate, modern and inspiring."
Arts Desk - Jon Turney
"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."
Daily Mail - Christopher Hart
"Czerski is a wonderful writer.… a compelling and elegantly written story.… The Blue Machine really does change the way you see the world."
Tristan Gooley
"In Helen Czerski's hands, the mechanical becomes magical. An instant classic."
Gaia Vince
"A fascinating dive into the essential engine that drives our world. Helen Czerski brings the oceans alive with compelling stories that masterfully navigate this most complex system."
Sarah Bakewell
"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."
Dr. George McGavin
"The Blue Machine is quite simply one of the best books I have ever read. Helen Czerski is a consummate storyteller.… In places you’ll drift serenely among corals or dense kelp forests, in others you’ll ride Atlantic breakers or fear for your life in a tropical storm.… When you resurface, you will be bursting with enthusiasm and wonder and you’ll understand how the ocean works and more besides."
David Abulafia
"Lively and engrossing.… Czerski is an exceptionally able guide.… 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’.… [An] excellent and important book."
Alice Roberts
"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."
Martin Chilton
"A spectacular read."
Professor Alice Roberts
"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."
Telegraph (UK) - Horatio Clare
"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."
Jo Marchant
"In this captivating and urgently needed book, Helen 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."
Science - Todd L. Capson
"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."
Financial Times
"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."
Martin Chilton (UK)
"A spectacular read."
New Scientist - Graham Lawton
"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."
Tom Whipple
"A beautifully written guide to the seas reveals the hidden complexity of their role in moving energy around the Earth.… A brisk tour of the oceans, like a sleek catamaran skipping over the waves. Deftly harnessing the trade winds of history and geography, guiding us through eddies and currents of anecdote, [Czerski] leaves us with an understanding of the complexity of the oceans."
Hugh Aldersey-Williams
"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."
Nature - Andrew Robinson
"[Czerski’s] profound, sparkling global ocean voyage mingles history and culture, natural history, geography, animals and people."
Kirkus Reviews
2023-06-20
An eclectic collection of essays exploring the ocean and its impact on the lives of humans.
In a book replete with diagrams and illustrations, London-based physicist and oceanographer Czerski, author of Storm in a Teacup, begins by discussing what “the blue machine” is and how it works. The major physical influences include temperature, salinity, density, and spin. The author continues by discussing the shape of the ocean, including the historical debate regarding continental drift and evidence that the first Americans passed along a coastal route 16,000 years ago. She also shares her complaint regarding the sentiment that “We know more about the Moon/Mars than we do about the deep sea” and explains why it is untrue. Some of Czerski’s most fascinating explorations are below the surface: She writes intriguingly about the “messengers” of the blue machine, light and sound, as well as the “passengers” and “voyagers” of the ocean, such as plankton, penguins, turtles, seabirds, and fish. Finally, Czerski discusses the future of the ocean and asks us to consider our relationship with it, noting that science must play the leading role in guiding our actions. The burning of fossil fuels and changing land use have led to an energy imbalance, which ends in the ocean with heat. “More than 90 per cent of all the additional energy accumulating on Earth because of human changes to the climate system has ended up in the ocean as heat,” she writes. Furthermore, “with a deeper knowledge of the ocean comes the responsibility to be good citizens of our ocean planet. The benefit of hindsight tells us that, for the most part, we have not been good citizens over the past two hundred years.” The book is packed with statistics, which may deter some readers, but diligent environmentalists will be pleased with the author’s rigor.
A compelling read for science buffs and ocean enthusiasts.
