Blue Machine: How the Ocean Shapes Our World

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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 A scientist’s exploration of the "ocean engine"—the physics behind the ocean’s systems—and why it matters. 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. 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. From space, our entire tiny Earth is a blue dot. Blue — the color of the ocean that blankets most of it, making Earth as we know it possible.

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." That still accounts for just a small fraction of the ocean, an interconnected mass of salt water thousands of miles in extent. As anyone who has looked properly at a globe, or studied the pictures of our planet from space, knows, water covers almost three-quarters of the Earth’s surface. And although on a planetary scale it is just a smear of moisture, it is still deep beyond human ken – the average depth of the whole lot is 3.68 kilometres. Down there, there are water movements vaster than empires and more slow, currents of matter and energy with a global reach. 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.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. All of Earth's ocean, from the equator to the poles, is a single engine powered by sunlight - a blue machine. When you splash through the waves at the beach, you’re connected via seawater to every drop of water in the global ocean. You might have to go the long way round, but you can get to exotic parrotfish, hydrothermal vents, icebergs and aquatic deserts without leaving the water you’re paddling in. A warts-and-all portrait of the famed techno-entrepreneur—and the warts are nearly beyond counting.

We humans eat the ocean every day. The sodium bustling about in your synapses right now, sending signals around your body . . . it came from the sea. The chloride that helps your body regulate blood pressure and control the gateway between the inside and outside of your cells . . . that came from the sea too. When a drop of sweat falls on to your tongue and you taste the salt, you’re tasting the ocean. But these ions are rare escapees. The salts in seawater do cycle very slowly between land and ocean, over millions of years. Riveting.... The cultural history fascinates.... Wide-ranging and meticulously detailed, this captures the wonder, beauty, and intrigue of its subject. Machine: an apparatus using or applying mechanical power and having several parts, each with a definite function and together performing a particular task. Or an efficient and well-organized group of powerful people. Engine: a machine with moving parts that converts power into motion. 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. 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

Beyond the Book

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.'