Globally, biodiversity is in crisis. Following centuries of overexploitation and the industrialization of human society, over 1 million species are estimated to be at risk of extinction (Purvis, Reference Purvis2019) and many ecosystems are in severe decline. These have massive implications for billions of people, affecting our food and water supply as well as our health and cultural heritage. After more than 2 years of delays because of the Covid-19 pandemic, in December 2022 world leaders met in Montreal to negotiate and finally adopt a landmark Global Biodiversity Framework, setting clear targets for countries to mitigate biodiversity loss. Following the failure to reach prior targets (Dickie, Reference Dickie2022), this new framework was considered critical for nature and human society, and for ensuring the rights of Indigenous People are a central priority. The ambitious framework was adopted by most countries, making biodiversity conservation not just a cause for ecologists and environmentalists, but a priority for international cooperation.

In light of this renewed interest comes a new book by Kew Gardens’ Director of Science Alexandre Antonelli. The Hidden Universe sets out to provide a broad, accessible overview of biodiversity. Likening the diversity of life on Earth to stars in the universe, Antonelli discusses the five points of the biodiversity ‘star’—species, genes, evolution, function and ecosystems—and their importance, the threats facing them, and approaches to protect them. He draws upon his own lengthy career in botany, the history of science, and recent developments in understanding and protecting nature. Some of the most engaging passages are anecdotes from his own field research, including in his native Brazil, and later, when he was affiliated with the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and Kew Gardens in the UK.

Antonelli succeeds in providing a broad, layman's overview of biodiversity and related issues that is accessible and concise. I particularly enjoyed reading about Antonelli's life and experiences, in passages that are woven into his wider points. Highlights include him recalling visits to Kew's portfolio of international conservation projects, fighting The Washington Post over an editorial that argued we should not try to save threatened species (Antonelli & Perrigo, Reference Antonelli and Perrigo2017), and struggling to secure a research visa for Brazil to study new plants. Although many of the points made are not anything ground-breaking, I appreciated Antonelli's modern lens; he discusses biodiversity's links with Indigenous ecological knowledge, colonialism and the rights of nature as much as the historic work on Linnaeus and Wallace. There is emphasis on people being central in protecting biodiversity, and Antonelli liberally credits his diverse global network of collaborators and students as well as highlighting his own achievements. Descriptions of Kew's broad range of collaborations—from a research site in Madagascar to furniture giant IKEA—provide a rich illustration of what modern conservation looks like. There is even a comprehensive glossary with key terms, and The Hidden Universe is beautifully illustrated with graphs, diagrams and images of species that make up our biosphere, as one would expect from a classic work of natural history.

I went into this hoping to gain deeper insight into what biodiversity means, how it is measured and how we conserve it. For its subject, The Hidden Universe is slim and it could easily have been twice as long. The closing chapter also fell a little short of my expectations: a series of recommendations focused on individual actions such as making environmentally conscious choices about diet, household and garden, which—although they form a part of the solution—are smaller than the structural, global changes we really need to halt biodiversity loss. This was better executed in another excellent book on a similarly huge topic: Tim Flannery's The Weather Makers, on climate change, which lists a series of recommendations and breathes more life into some ambitious and country-specific recommendations for Flannery's fellow Australians. I would have liked Antonelli to provide a more ambitious vision for a future where nature can thrive, as he would be well placed to posit steps for systematic changes that could be taken at the level of large institutions or indeed countries such as Brazil, the UK or Sweden to give nature the space and resources it needs to recover and continue to provide for us and the many species with whom we share our planet.

This is an accessible and engaging book for anyone new to and interested in biodiversity, and it provides a good summary of modern conservation. Antonelli successfully breaks down this huge topic into digestible and engaging portions, and his inspiring journey and inquisitive personality shine throughout the book. However, a seasoned researcher or conservation practitioner will not find many new ideas here. Nevertheless, I hope this book will help promote the importance of biodiversity to a wide audience in this critical decade to protect nature.