RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK FINANCIAL TIMES 2023 BOOK OF THE YEARTHE 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.''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 'A dazzle of stories beautifully
told...Outstanding ... Her readers will see the seas anew.'Horatio Clare Telegraph 'Excellent
and important.' Spectator 'Czerski is a wonderful writer ... Blue Machine really does change
the way you see the world.' Daily Mail 'In Helen Czerski's hands the mechanical becomes
magical. An instant classic.' Tristan Gooley author of How to Read Water 'Blue Machine is
quite simply one of the best books I have ever read.' Dr George McGavin zoologist
entomologist and broadcaster 'A fascinating dive into the essential engine that drives our
world.'Gaia Vince science journalist broadcaster and author of Nomad Century All of the
Earth's ocean from the equator to the poles is a single engine powered by sunlight - a blue
machine. 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. In a book that will
recalibrate our view of this defining feature of our planet physicist Helen Czerski dives deep
to illuminate the murky depths of the ocean engine examining the messengers passengers and
voyagers that live in it travel over it and survive because of it. From the ancient
Polynesians who navigated the Pacific by reading the waves to permanent residents of the deep
such as the Greenland shark that can live for hundreds of years she explains the vast currents
invisible ocean walls and underwater waterfalls that all have their place in the ocean's
complex interlinked system. Timely elegant and passionately argued Blue Machine presents a
fresh perspective on what it means to be a citizen of an ocean planet. 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 Earth's defining feature showing
us the thrilling extent to which we are at the mercy of this great engine.
................................... 'Helen Czerski weaves together physics and biology history
and science in a beautifully poetic way.'Professor Alice Roberts
