Helen Czerski

Many thanks for that Blue Machine book on the ocean. The author did an outstanding job of tying the physics and chemistry to the dynamics, the dynamics to the biology, and the biology to values and human impacts. She also included plenty of real world examples of how difficult it is to do research at sea! Dave Walsh

Any book that explains how ducks don’t freeze to death with their bare feet dangling in icy water, I’m all for. Szerski does a great job of segueing from ordinary things to the physics that explains them. I found that she lost her way in later chapters when she wandered into philosophy. Scientists are best off leaving that stuff to the philosophers, I think.

An absolutely thrilling work about the structures and processes of the ocean, and the intricacy of human connectivity to this massive part of our environment. The science is explained well (I could understand it!), and there are plenty of interesting anecdotes to illustrate the points raised.

This book was not really what I was expecting after reading Storm in a Teacup, as this one seemed more in depth and scientific. But it was very well done, keeps your interest, explains the dynamism of the ocean -- it is a true machine. And the machine responds to clues that we are just beginning to understand. Let's hope we make it a priority to figure these clues out before doing things that will forever change the way the ocean, and the earth, work.