I want to thank NetGalley and the author for giving me the opportunity to review an ARC of this book.

I found the book highly educational. It describes the highly complex and expansive nature of water and oceans and their impact on our planet and all life. It also provides a view into how vast the oceans are and how relatively much we still need to explore. Plus it shows the impact humans have wittingly and unwittingly had on the vast yet limited water systems of this planet.

As interesting and enlightening as I found the book, I do feel that at times I found it a little harder than I would have liked to follow the flow of topics. At times, the author did also diverge into deep detail that perhaps lengthen the book a little.

Still overall I found the book very interesting, informative and easy to read stylistically. Recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I feel a bit biased writing this review, because this book covers almost exactly what I have studied (oceanography). I found it therefore quite interesting because it summed up everything I have learned in the last couple years in a very neat and understandable way, from the thermohaline circulation to the way sea ice forms and more abstract concepts like the Coriolis force and how sound works in water.

I personally love ocean physics, but I am not sure how easily the non-oceanographer reader would be able to get the concepts presented here because in the advanced copy version the graphics were not really visible and finished yet. I think if those turn out great then that will go a long way with helping to explain a lot of the ocean circulation mechanisms and water layers she describes! If I hadn't already studied those things, I would deffo have been lost without referring to a picture of some sort.

I also really loved that this book wasn't just about physics but also animals! Animal lovers will also enjoy this, and she refers to The Brilliant Abyss by Helen Scales, which I also recently loved about deep sea animals! If you like one, you will probably like the other too. There is so much interesting info- from whales not needing to drink (they don't know for sure yet, like WHAT?!) and having earwax despite lacking ears, to sea turtles needing to constantly cry viscous and salty tears, to Greenland sharks which are almost all partially blind and have elongated lifespans due to living in cold water, and the list goes on. She even throws in some cool info about how sea salt is made!

One of the things I love the most about this author from her other book Storm in a Teacup, is how great she is at explaining physics in relation to everyday things and phenomena that everyone experiences. This makes it so much more fun to read about and will give you a lot of cool facts. Highly recommend!

Czerski's clear passion makes reading The Blue Machine even more enjoyable. I learned a lot and it made me think more about the interconnectedness and the impact the ocean has on the world and survival.

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.

For all of us the ocean means something different. A place that can be both relaxing and terrifying. A habitat for countless species, all the way to the largest animals on the planet. A place with terrifying depths and crushing pressures, shrouded in perpetual darkness interrupted by occasional unexpected bioluminescence. A place that is both “non-land” in our perception as well as the route connecting the continents. A place that shapes our weather. A place that still feeds us and sequesters our recklessly released carbon and can turn treacherously dangerous the moment you dare to be careless.

“All of our fresh water is borrowed from the ocean – every cup of tea, every waterfall, 60 per cent of you and me, the most expensive champagne, your dog’s territorial liquid markers, and the snow covering the top of Everest.”

Helen Czerski, clearly passionate about it, chooses to present it as an astonishingly elegant and incredibly complex engine of life that powers all the functions of our planet, fueled by the energy of sunlight.

“The blue of Earth is a gigantic engine, a dynamic liquid power- house 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 bub- bles bursting at the top of a breaking wave. This is a beautiful, elegant, tightly woven system, full of surprising connections and profound consequences. The complexity can seem over- whelming, but at the largest scale, the logic is straightforward.”

Czerski’s admiration for the ocean in all its glory is contagious. She’s very knowledgeable and is able to share this knowledge in an easily accessible yet comprehensive manner, with details mixed with gentle humor and reasoned respect for the wonders of the titular “blue machine”. She blends physics, chemistry, marine biology, history and environmental science in a very interesting and engaging oceanography narrative that is a pleasure to read.

For me the most important thing to take from this book besides immense respect for the ocean is the realization that ocean is more than “absence of land” and something that is “not there”. It cannot be ignored, and there are limits to the abuse it can take without it altering the life as we know it.

5 stars.
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Thanks to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.