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 BOOK OF THE WEEK: This beautifully written, sweeping guide shows how the deep movement of the seas have ruled our lives in unexpected ways over millennia. Tom Whipple, The Times In a break from many other books about the deep sea that talk about animals, Blue Machine focuses on the ocean itself, revealing a fascinating planetary engine. Equal parts physical oceanography, marine biology, and science history, topped off with human-interest stories, Czerski has written a captivating book that oozes lyricism in places. Most of us have a very superficial relationship with the ocean. If we deign to visit it all, we transgress mainly into its uppermost layers. We boat or sail on the surface occasionally interacting with some of its top tier predators such as whales, porpoises, orcas, sharks, or seals. As a society we use the ocean as a source of protein, or we use it as a garbage dump. Out of sight, out of mind as the saying goes. Yet the Oceans comprise 70% of the surface area of the earth and 97% of all the water on the planet. They are the places where life began and evolved for over three billion years. It is where we come from. The dynamic currents and energy mass of the oceans affect the climates of all the continents. The complex oceanic ecosystems not only provide us with protein but profoundly affect the livability of our atmosphere. To read Helen Czerski is to take a fascinating dive below the waves as she tries to explain the complex workings of our blue planet’s blue machine, how it makes our planet a haven for life and also the catastrophic dangers we face by over exploiting and destabilizing its complex ecosystems. 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 Graham Lawton, New Scientist

This is a fascinating book and one that I read in chunks over several days. I thought this book was so well laid out and explained and I definitely closed the book at the end knowing I knew more now than I did before. The explanations made sense and this is what I really liked about it.

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I would like her to write a follow-up proposing policy changes that she recommends, given her extensive base of knowledge and experience. I get that doing nothing, and always preaching conservation is an easy way to never be wrong with your predictions. However, it always is unrealistic. If we want to move off greenhouse gasses, there needs to be an alternative. What exactly does she recommend? 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 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 Helen Czerski weaves together physics and biology, history and science, in a beautifully poetic way.'

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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

Riveting.... The cultural history fascinates.... Wide-ranging and meticulously detailed, this captures the wonder, beauty, and intrigue of its subject. Publisher's Weekly All of the Earth's ocean, from the equator to the poles, is a single engine powered by sunlight - a blue machine. Czerski’s] profound, sparkling global ocean voyage mingles history and culture, natural history, geography, animals and people.—Andrew Robinson, Nature 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. I feel kind of mean giving this book a three star rating, because for someone who is scientifically interested in the sea then this would be a 5 star for sure.The author was mentored by Hawaiian wisdom keeper Kimokeo Kapahulehua who said in another place: "Call nā po‘e ka lani, nā po‘e moana, nā po‘e ka hōnua -- the people of the heavens, the people of the ocean, and the people of the land, we're all just one big family in how we work together in preserving everything." I wonder what he thinks of the machine metaphor and that would have made a much better book. 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 Vince All of our fresh water is borrowed from the ocean – every cup of tea, every waterfall, 60 per cent of you and me, the most expensive champagne, your dog’s territorial liquid markers, and the snow covering the top of Everest.”

Earth is home to a huge story that is rarely told - that of our ocean. Not the fish or the dolphins, but the massive ocean engine itself: what it does, why it works, and the many ways it has influenced animals, weather and human history & culture. This is the spectacular story of Earth's dynamic ocean. THE TIMES SCIENCE BOOK OF THE YEAR: 'This beautifully written, sweeping guide shows how the deep movement of the seas have ruled our lives in unexpected ways over millennia.'Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator. 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." 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