Some of the writing is beautifully descriptive and gave me an appreciation of the writers experiences and my own experiences with the sea. However, many sections of the book were very science heavy and I felt more like I was reading an academic paper or thesis and I didn't enjoy these sections as much. Timely, elegant and passionately argued, The Blue Machine is one of the biggest stories ever told. The understanding it offers is crucial to our future. Drawing on years of experience at the forefront of marine science, Helen Czerski captures the magnitude and subtlety of this complex force, showing us the thrilling extent to which we are at the mercy of this great engine.

It all adds up to a persuasive case that Earth-dwellers need to understand the ocean and work with it, a message that gains urgency from the way people are now changing the whole system. More than 90 per cent of all the extra energy our atmosphere has trapped as we have increased its load of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases is stored in ocean waters as heat. That is affecting the whole, vast, intricate, machine, with untoward effects on climate and ecosystems. What happened with the advent of fossil fuels: “This great synthesis of human and nature was about to be jettisoned by economics, technology and the demands of convenience. The most fundamental aspect of this upheaval wasn’t the shift from wood to metal, or from free wind to expensive coal, or from the irregularity of weather to timetabled reliability, although those were important. It was the change from voyaging with nature to voyaging despite nature. For a steamship is just a mechanism. Apart from the need to keep shoveling coal into its boilers, you could pretty much switch a steamship on, point it in any direction and walk away while your ship moved itself around. The centuries of collaboration between humans and nature were over.” You could really conclude that this just didn’t apply to ships. The advent of mass utilization of fossil fuels severed the connections between humans and nature allowing us the illusion that we could impose our will, our insatiable quest for material abundance, to bulldoze, air condition the earth into submission to suit our needs and comfort without considering the repercussions on the earth’s natural systems. That illusion is now coming to an end. A scientist’s exploration of the “ocean engine”—the physics behind the ocean’s systems—and why it matters. 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 Financial Times 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.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

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. All of Earth's ocean, from the equator to the poles, is a single engine powered by sunlight - a blue machine. Most importantly, however, Czerski reveals that while the ocean engine has sustained us for thousands of years, today it is faced with urgent threats. By understanding how the ocean works, and its essential role in our global system, we can learn how to protect our blue machine.

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This is a book about the blue machine that drives our planet. We are taken on an intimate tour of the sea, it's layers, it's inhabitants from the smallest to the biggest, and how it effects our lives. I learned that salt - no matter how exotic it appears or where it comes from - is in fact all the same.

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.

Beyond the Book

In Helen Czerski's hands, the mechanical becomes magical. An instant classic. Tristan Gooley, author of How to Read Water 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 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. When next you go to the sea, study the colour of your bit of the global ocean. “The cool water off Nova Scotia is a foggy turquoise,” Helen Czerski writes, “lit by diffuse sunlight above and fading into darkness below. The fog is made up of tiny fragments of drifting organic life, individually invisible but collectively cloaking every resident in fuzzy ignorance of everything more than five metres away.”

Riveting.... The cultural history fascinates.... Wide-ranging and meticulously detailed, this captures the wonder, beauty, and intrigue of its subject. The Earth’s oceans are vast, and yet they often seem invisible. We had to go into space to really appreciate that the defining feature of our planet is not land but water. The Apollo programme sent men to the moon, but I think that its most significant achievement was to let all of us see the Earth. She says for that that want change, readers should write to their elected officials. What I am interested in hearing, after reading her book, is what does she recommend they write? If we were to ask our politicians to support an initiative/write a bill/fund a program, what does she believe is worth it?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. 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 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. Dr George McGavin, zoologist, entomologist and broadcaster 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 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.