No-nonsense Captain Swashby is used to the sea meeting all of his needs and when, after his retirement, new neighbors disturb his solitary life, the sea helps in just the right way.

"All of Earth's oceans, from the equator to the poles, are a single engine powered by sunlight, driving huge flows of energy, water, life, and raw materials. 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. Through stories of history,...