Helen writes regularly about the ocean, our planet, and the physics of everyday life. She has had a column on everyday physics in the Wall Street Journal since 2017, covering everything from why families of ducks swim in such perfect formation to the physics of whistling. She was a science columnist for Focus magazine from 2012-2018, and this column was shortlisted for the 'Columnist of the Year' by the Professional Publishers Association in 2014.
Her first book, Storm in a Teacup, was published in the UK in November 2016 and has been translated into 16 languages. It was the joint winner of the 2018 Asimov Prize (a national Italian science book prize awarded by the Gran Sasso Science Institute), named one of the top ten physics books of 2016 by Physics World, and has been awarded the Louis J. Mountbattan Author’s award by the American Meteorological Society.
Helen’s next book, Blue Machine, was published in the UK on the 1st of June 2023, and in the USA on 3rd October 2023.
Books
Blue Machine: How the Ocean Shapes our World
RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK
FINANCIAL TIMES 2023 HIGHLIGHT
THE TIMES BOOK OF THE WEEK: 'This beautifully written, sweeping guide shows how the deep movement of the seas have ruled our lives in unexpected ways over millennia.'
'A dazzle of stories beautifully told...Outstanding ... Her readers will see the seas anew.'
Horatio Clare, Telegraph
'Excellent and important.' Spectator
'In Helen Czerski's hands, the mechanical becomes magical. An instant classic.'
Tristan Gooley, author of How to Read Water
'Blue Machine is quite simply one of the best books I have ever read.'
Dr George McGavin, zoologist, entomologist and broadcaster
'A fascinating dive into the essential engine that drives our world. Czerski brings the oceans alive with compelling stories that masterfully navigate this most complex system.'
Gaia Vince, science journalist, broadcaster and author of Nomad Century
All of the Earth's ocean, from the equator to the poles, is a single engine powered by sunlight - a blue machine.
Earth is home to a huge story that is rarely told - that of our ocean. Not the fish or the dolphins, but the massive ocean engine itself: what it does, why it works, and the many ways it has influenced animals, weather and human history & culture.
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, Blue Machine presents a fresh perspective on what it means to be a citizen of an ocean planet. 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 Earth's defining feature, showing us the thrilling extent to which we are at the mercy of this great engine.
'Helen Czerski weaves together physics and biology, history and science, in a beautifully poetic way.'
Professor Alice Roberts
Storm in a Teacup: The Physics of Everyday Life
Published by Transworld in UK & Commonwealth
What is it that helps both scorpions and cyclists to survive? What do raw eggs and gyroscopes have in common? And why does it matter? In an age of string theory, fluid dynamics and biophysics, it can seem as if the science of our world is only for specialists and academics. Not so, insists Helen Czerski – and in this sparkling new book she explores the patterns and connections that illustrate the grandest theories in the smallest everyday objects and experiences. Linking what makes popcorn pop to Antarctic winds, coffee stains to blood tests or ketchup bottles to aliens in space, every thread you pull in the fabric of everyday life shows you something new about the intricate patterns of our world. Read "Storm in a Teacup" and you will see and understand the world as you never did before.
Reviews
"A quite delightful book on the joys, and universality, of physics. Czerski’s enthusiasm is infectious because she brings our humdrum everyday world to life, showing us that it is just as fascinating as anything that can be seen by the Hubble Telescope or created at the Large Hadron Collider."
– Jim Al-Khalili
"If you've ever felt like understanding how things work is just too big a mountain to climb then read this book. It'll carry you gently to the peak and show you how stunning and beautiful the view is. It is rare that someone can explain that which seems endlessly complex and makes you feel like in fact you'd understood it all along. Helen Czerski's book does just that. Fun, fascinating and brilliantly well written - 'Right there, in my teacup, I can see the storm.' Me too and I know what it is now."
– Marcus Brigstocke
"Excellent....an ideal gift for any scientifically inquisitive person, including children or adults who retain a child's sense of wonder. Robert Hooke would have loved it." Read more
– John Gribbin, Wall Street Journal
Full list of countries and publishers:
UK – Transworld
USA – WW Norton
Brazil – Record
China – United Sky
Czech Republic - Grada Publishing
Finland – Atena Kustannus
Germany – Kruger
Italy – Bollati Boringhieri
Korea – Business Books
Poland – Czarna Owca
Romania – Trei
Russia – Mann, Ivanov & Ferber
Spain – Paidos
Taiwan – Suncolor
Netherlands – Maven
Turkey – Domingo
Bubbles: A Ladybird Expert Book
Imprint: Michael Joseph. Published: 01/11/2018
Part of the new Ladybird Expert series, Bubbles is a clear, surprising and entertaining introduction to the science of bubbles.
Bubbles are beautiful, ephemeral, fun, fragile, jolly and slightly unpredictable. We're all familiar with them, but we don't often ask what they actually are.
The great scientists of the Western world - Robert Hooke, Isaac Newton, Lord Rayleigh and more - studied bubbles seriously. They recognised that they had a lot to say about the nature of the physical world, and they poked, prodded and listened to find out what it was. In the years since, we've learned that this bulbous arrangement of liquid and gas does things that neither the gas or the liquid could do by itself.
Bubbles explores how everything from the way drinks taste to the Earth's temperature are influenced by bubbles. This book has a message: never underestimate a bubble!
Written by the leading lights and most outstanding communicators in their fields, the Ladybird Expert books provide clear, accessible and authoritative introductions to subjects drawn from science, history and culture.
For an adult readership, the Ladybird Expert series is produced in the same iconic small hardback format pioneered by the original Ladybirds. Each beautifully illustrated book features the first new illustrations produced in the original Ladybird style for nearly forty years.
Other writing
Guardian Profile
May 18, 2023
The ocean is the engine of the Earth - Reframing our blue planet
Cultural perceptions of the ocean as a void or an empty space give a grave misrepresentation of the ocean's true nature. Contrary to the idea of emptiness, the ocean is an intricate, dynamic engine of the Earth teeming with diverse life and physicochemical processes, writes Helen, for the Institute of Art and Ideas.
September 1, 2018
What’s happening to our weather? The answers are hiding in Arctic air
Dozens of scientists, Helen Czerski among them, are at work in the Arctic, seeking answers to questions that profoundly affect the future of everyone on the planet
January 7, 2024
Tracking how the ocean breathes
I am holding on to the rail beneath the window with both hands, one leg braced against the desk behind me, as the ship rides up a wave about 8 metres (26ft) high, then plunges down the other side…
November 6, 2017
Behold the bubbly ocean
Article published in the November 2017 issue of Physics World.
A bubble in the ocean may seem insignificant, but consider all the bubbles in all the oceans and you find a powerful influence on the planet. Helen talks about her expeditions into stormy seas to learn more about these tiny pockets of gas.
January 13 , 2017
A Week in the Life of Physicist Helen Czerski
In the Wall Street Journal 'My Week' series, Helen tells us that physics shows up everywhere in daily life, even at breakfast.
November 03, 2016
Matchstick Scientist - Helen's Mancunian Heritage
About "Storm in a Teacup", Helen says, "In the course of writing this book, I realized that I had never consciously connected my northern roots with my path in science. But the connecting threads are there, and the whole process has made me reflect on how growing up in the north-west of England influenced my attitudes towards science and technology."
November 17, 2016
Physics made easy by Dangerous Earth presenter Dr Helen Czerski
The best thing about physics is that it’s all about patterns, and the same patterns pop up in lots of different places. That means you can explain some really important situations using surprisingly mundane bits of everyday life. Here’s a taster.
A Passion For Science: Tales of Discovery and Invention
This extract is a chapter from the women in STEM anthology, A Passion For Science.
September, 2016
Penguin 'Find-your-next-read'
Helen recommends her five books that opened the door to physics.
October 25, 2016
The blue below: why monitoring the oceans from space is so important
In this blog post for EUMETSAT, Helen explains why monitoring the oceans is absolutely vital.