Book review: The Hidden Universe: Adventures in Biodiversity

By Alexandre Antonelli 

"As the species around us disappear, we lose invaluable sources of food, medicine, fibre, clothing and many other properties..."  - Alexandre Antonelli

This short book written by Alexandre Antonelli the Director Science at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew gives a clearly written and easy to understand overview of biodiversity – what it is, how it works, and why it’s the key to saving life on our planet and in combating climate change.  

Biodiversity as an issue has never been more important.  The UN describes species extinction rate on our planet as “unprecedented” and approximately a million animals and plants (out of 8.7 million known species) are at risk of disappearing within decades. On the economic side over half of global GDP ($41.7tr) has been estimated by the insurer Swiss Re to be dependent on a healthy natural world.

The Hidden Universe summarises the key biodiversity issues in the natural world with Antonelli combining his personal stories and current scientific research, to give readers a very readable and clear overview of biodiversity at a genetic, species and ecosystem level.    

Antonelli reminds us that biodiversity is key to life and it forms a network that underpins almost every aspect of our lives, providing invaluable sources of food, medicine, fibre, clothing, building material and more.  The Hidden Universe outlines the risks if we continue on our current path and practical ideas on what we can do as individuals in our lives to reduce our environmental footprint to protect and restore biodiversity around the world.  

“ ”If you think you are too small to make a difference, you haven’t spent the night with a mosquito,” says an African proverb. The threats facing the world’s biodiversity may seem daunting, but we can all play a critical role, which combined will lead to massive positive change.” – Alexandre Antonelli

Alexandre Antonelli is a Brazilian born scientist who leads the work of 350 scientists in his role at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of the world’s largest research organizations in plant and fungal sciences. He is a botanist by training, he was made Full Professor of Biodiversity at University of Gothenburg in Sweden aged 36, and founded the Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre and served as Cisneros Visiting Scholar at Harvard University before joining Kew. He continues to be an active researcher at the University of Gothenburg and the University of Oxford in the UK. This is his first book. 

Black Teal Bay Books rating: 7.5/10