In Blue Machine (2024), Helen Czerski refigures the ocean as an enormous planetary engine, converting light and heat into motion. Her book invites us to see the ocean not as an ‘absence’ but an intricate series of operations that makes life as we know it possible.

In this episode, Meehan Crist and Peter Godfrey-Smith reflect on the ways Czerski’s book has altered their thinking about the ocean, and whether new perspectives can ever be enough to change public policy.

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More from the LRB:

Richard Hamblyn on deep-sea exploration:

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v27/n21/richard-hamblyn/hurrah-for-the-dredge

Katherine Rundell on the greenland shark:

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v42/n09/katherine-rundell/consider-the-greenland-shark

Liam Shaw on coral:

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n22/liam-shaw/in-the-photic-zone

Amia Srinivasan reviews Peter’s book on octopus minds: