BookBrowse Reviews The Blue Machine by Helen Czerski

We usually think of each of our planet's oceans as separate from the rest, with their own unique characteristics, but in truth they are all part of a single, global system that has a huge impact on all life on Earth. Helen Czerski's fascinating book explains the workings of this complex marine "machine" in a clear, compelling way.

The Blue Machine is separated into three sections. In the first, Czerski explains how the physics of various factors interact to make up the global ocean system. These factors are temperature, salinity, density and spin. Differences in the temperature and salinity of water change the water's density, forming an ocean of distinct layers of water that generally don't mix. The behavior of these layers has a massive impact on oceanic ecosystems, as Czerski demonstrates with the example of an upwelling in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America. At this...