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." - Dr. George McGavin, zoologist, entomologist, and broadcaster Through stories of history, culture, and animals, she explains how water temperature, salinity, gravity, and the movement of Earth's tectonic plates all interact in a complex dance, supporting life at the smallest scale—plankton—and the largest—giant sea turtles, whales, humankind. 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 introduces the messengers, passengers, and voyagers that rely on interlinked systems of vast currents, invisible ocean walls, and underwater waterfalls. 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. 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. Through stories of history, culture, and animals, she explains how water temperature, salinity, gravity, and the movement of Earth’s tectonic plates all interact in a complex dance, supporting life at the smallest scale—plankton—and the largest—giant sea turtles, whales, humankind. 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 introduces the messengers, passengers, and voyagers that rely on interlinked systems of vast currents, invisible ocean walls, and underwater waterfalls.

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. 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. Helen Czerski's absorbing Storm in a Teacup stands head and shoulders above other popular science books. Irish 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 Financial TimesHelen 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 Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator. The blue of Earth is a gigantic engine, a dynamic liquid powerhouse that stretches around our planet and is connected to every part of our lives. It has components on every scale, from the mighty Gulf Stream gliding across the Atlantic to the tiny bubbles bursting at the top of a breaking wave. This is a beautiful, elegant, tightly woven system, full of surprising connections and profound consequences. 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." - Hugh Aldersey-Williams, author of The Tide: The Science and Stories Behind the Greatest Force on Earth Czerski is a wonderful writer ... Blue Machine really does change the way you see the world.' Daily Mail

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 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.By 2021, Helen Czerski tells us, CPRs had been towed for 7 million nautical miles, which would take them 326 times around the world. Someone – in this case a team of researchers in Plymouth – then needs to examine, classify and count the contents of each trawl.