Blue Machine - How the Ocean Works (Hardcover)

All of the Earth's ocean, from the equator to the poles, is a single engine powered by sunlight - a blue machine. Human history has been dictated by the ocean: the location of cities, access to resources and the gateways to new lands have all revolved around water. We live inside the weather the ocean generates and breathe in what it breathes out. Yet despite our dependence, our awareness of its totality is minimal. 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, 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.

General

Imprint:	Torva
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	June 2023
Authors:	Helen Czerski
Dimensions:	240 x 156 x 40mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	448
ISBN-13:	978-1-911709-10-7
Categories:	Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues > Popular science Books > Science & Mathematics > Physics > Applied physics & special topics > Atmospheric physics
LSN:	1-911709-10-0
Barcode:	9781911709107

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Review This Product

Mon, 26 Feb 2024 | Review by: Tanya K.

Czerski states that the aim of the book "has been to draw the outlines of the Earth's wonderful ocean engine, to show how it works, and to share how it all fits together and why it matters". In my opinion, she has achieved her aim. This is an interesting, in formative and well-written mix of science and history that gives a broad and easily digestible overview of the physical and biological complexity of the ocean. Czerski's main premise is that the entire Earth's ocean, from the equator to the poles, is a single powerful engine powered by sunlight i.e. the "Blue Machine". Czerski covers the biology and physics of the ocean; how nature, shape and anatomy of the ocean influence how it works - salinity, density, temperature, effects of wind, earth's rotation, currents, and geography are discussed; as well as travelling though the ocean as messengers (light and sound), passengers (dissolved atoms, microbes, plankton, animals and plants, and voyagers (those that travel on or through the ocean e.g. humans, penguins, whales). I do feel the book would have benefited from additional diagrams to illustrate concepts. Note: I love that this book has footnotes instead of endnotes. It's so much easier to glance at the bottom of the page when coming across the relevant symbol, than flipping backwards and forwards constantly.

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