Traditional Chinese and Japanese poetry and art depict the above-horizon, superior mirage, or fata morgana, as exhalations of clam-monsters.

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. Part 2 is "Travelling the Blue Machine" This looks at life in the oceans and on the oceans and has 3 sections covering, messengers, passengers and voyagers. Blending marine biology, history and climate change concerns with novelistic skill, Blue Machine is a spellbinding exploration of the ocean – its complex, interlinked system and the multitude of ways life on the rest of the planet depends on it. THE 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. Tristan Gooley, author of How to Read Water'Blue Machine is quite simply one of the best books I have ever read.

A catastrophe for catastrophists perhaps, but most people would consider more life in the oceans actually a good thing. In this captivating and urgently needed book, Helen Czerski weaves a wonderful, watery spell, entwining spectacular science with poetic awe as she expertly guides readers through the workings of a vast, unfamiliar world. 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. A New York Times Notable Book of 2023 and Editors' Choice • A Science News Favorite Book of 2023 • A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2023 • A Smithsonian Staff Favorite of 2023 • A New Yorker Best Books of 2023 So Far • Named a Fall 2023 Must-Re .

I went into this book curious about our oceans, but not seeing them and a book talking about them as a particularly important topic. As a physicist, she studies the bubbles generated by breaking waves in the ocean to understand their influence on weather and climate. Deftly harnessing the trade winds of history and geography, guiding us through eddies and currents of anecdote, [Czerski] leaves us with an understanding of the complexity of the oceans. 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. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

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. Alongside her vivid portrayal of waters sliding over one another, colliding, mixing and turning into ice or water vapour, she explains how the living beings within the sea also form part of the ‘blue machine’. Helen Czerski weaves together physics and biology, history and science, in a beautifully poetic way. She also hosts the Ocean Matters podcast, is part of the Cosmic Shambles network, and is one of the presenters for the Fully Charged Show. Wide-ranging and meticulously detailed, this captures the wonder, beauty, and intrigue of its subject.

A scientist’s exploration of the "ocean engine"—the physics behind the ocean’s systems—and why it matters. Aborda os tópicos com precisão mas numa contexto mais amplo, agradável de ler, com relato de experiências próprias de viagens, de modo a agradar mesmo uma clientela não especializada, sendo até mais direcionada para não especialistas que porém deverão apreciar esse modo de apresentação e mesmo aprender uma e outra coisa que provavelmente desconheciam.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. A autora, geofísica de formação, apresenta uma forma muito peculiar de descrever as características físicas, geológicas e biológicas do oceanos.

The book as a whole is a carefully structured treatise on the big topics needed to appreciate what the blue machine does for the planet, delves into the finer points to provide just the right amount of detail to explain everything, and then lovingly intersperses all of that with storytelling that provides context and deeper understanding to the facts. In The Blue Machine, physicist and oceanographer Helen Czerski illustrates the mechanisms behind this defining feature of our planet, voyaging from the depths of the ocean floor to tropical coral reefs, estuaries that feed into shallow coastal seas, and Arctic ice floes. All of the Earth's ocean, from the equator to the poles, is a single engine powered by sunlight - a blue machine.Moving and thrilling, The Blue Machine tells us about the seas but also makes us care: an epic love story that captures the ocean’s beating heart. From vast currents and tides to the smallest creatures that inhabit our oceans she reveals the spellbinding wonder of the oceans.