In 85 short pages, Peter Adolphsen manages to trace the complete history of a drop of oil from its origins in the early Eocene through a story of the last moments of a Hyracotherium (a tiny prehistoric ancestor to the horse) where this drop of oil started in this tiny animals beating heart, through its geologic development and migration, its extraction and refinement into gasoline, and finally through the combustion process of 1970s Ford Pinto where this single molecule will find its ultimate destination, drastically altering the life of one of the passengers.

Adolphsen plays with the idea of Chaos Theory and coincidence throughout the novel tying what seems like a series of highly improbable events into a single narrative history told in unique almost omnipresent first person. Throughout the narrative Adolphsen is preoccupied with the science that makes these series of events happen from life and death, to the creation of oil from living matter, to the brain on drugs and the combustion of a car engine. In fact, the majority of the book is concerned with these in my estimation fascinating scientific details. What you'll find with Machine is a novel less concerned about the characters and their individual story, instead the focus is more about the external processes that shape them that constantly apart of their lives but largely unnoticed. I realize that all the precise scientific detail and jargon might come off as a bit dry and boring, and is not seamlessly integrated with the story as some would like, but I found Machine to be interestingly straightforward and at times beautifully written book exploring big ideas in a way fictional setting that I understood. It certainly isn't a book for everyone, but I'll definitely be rereading this one again. ( )

Death exists, but only in a practical, macroscopic sense. Biologically one cannot distinguish between life and death; the transition is a continuum. [...] The problem of defining death mirrors a corresponding difficulty with the definition of life: a living organism is formed of non-living material, organized so it can absorb energy to maintain its system, and death is thus the irreversible cessation of these functions.

Machine is a short novella: an exploration of life, death and transformation via the path of a drop of crude oil -- from its origins 55-million years ago in the decaying heart of a tiny prehistoric horse, through refinement to gasoline and into the tank of a 1970s car with a man and woman, and then... well you’ll have to read it and I wager you'll be surprised.

It’s a ping-pong of ideas, scientific and philosophical -- an essay (a tutorial at times) clothed in a fragmented, fable-like story. I’m not a fan of fables, but I am a fan of ideas and of short-form writing, and found Machine interesting to read. I would try more by Adolphsen. ( )