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#1 on the nonfiction Indie Bestseller list this week is Communion by bell hooks, which shares a title with the new JD Vance book. That’s no accident: a grassroots campaign encouraged readers to pick up the bell hooks title, and it worked. It got to the #12 bestseller spot in The New York Times and was the #1 bestseller on Bookshop.org. The publisher said sales on the title are up 1,000% since last year.

This list continues to lack diversity on many levels, including being disproportionately by white authors. Some Independent Press Bestsellers you should know about are The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, and Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian.

To get these numbers, we look at The New York Times , both Combined Print & E-Book Fiction and Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction lists; Amazon Charts, both Fiction and Nonfiction; Publishers Weekly ; USA Today ; and Indie Bestsellers, Fiction and Nonfiction, both Paperback and Hardcover.

Books On All Five Bestseller Lists:

Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

Whistler by Ann Patchett

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett

Books On Four Bestseller Lists:

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir ( Publishers Weekly, USA Today, NYT, Indie Bestsellers)

The Deal by Elle Kennedy ( Publishers Weekly, NYT, Amazon, Indie Bestsellers)

The Divorce by Freida McFadden ( Publishers Weekly, USA Today, NYT, Amazon)

Books On Three Bestseller Lists:

Strangers by Belle Burden (NYT, Amazon, Indie Bestsellers)

The Land and Its People by David Sedaris (NYT, Amazon, Indie Bestsellers)

Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books .

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For decades, cities have been designed around "gray infrastructure." Roads move people. Bridges connect communities. Water systems protect public health. These systems are governed by engineering standards because society recognizes that safety cannot depend on good intentions alone.

Urban nature deserves the same recognition.

In June, a heat wave gripped Europe, breaking temperature records across the continent. In France, officials reported over 2,000 excess deaths . In the U.K., hospitals declared critical incidents and machinery and IT systems failed. In the U.S., a heat dome over the Midwest and East Coast disrupted Fourth of July celebrations, with at least 25 heat-related deaths over Independence Day weekend.

Cities are being tested by a warming climate. Yet one of our most effective forms of climate infrastructure is being lost — not because it does not work but because we still do not treat it as infrastructure.

My view is simple: Urban nature ‪—‬ including street trees, parks, wetlands and other urban green spaces ‪—‬ should be categorized and managed as essential infrastructure , with minimum standards for its protection, quality and long-term maintenance. Just as we regulate roads, bridges and drinking water, we need standards that ensure all urban residents benefit from healthy and thriving urban nature. Without such standards, cities will become hotter, less resilient and increasingly unequal as climate change accelerates.

A cafe in the city of Nice during the heat wave that saw temperatures in France reach a record-breaking average of 98.4 degrees Fahrenheit (36.9 degrees Celsius). (Image credit: Valery Hache/Getty Images) Scientific research shows that urban trees and green spaces cool cities during heat waves, reduce flooding by absorbing stormwater, improve air quality, store carbon, support biodiversity, and improve both physical and mental health. During extreme heat, neighborhoods with mature tree canopies can be several degrees cooler than nearby streets dominated by concrete and asphalt. Those few degrees can mean the difference between manageable discomfort and dangerous heat exposure, particularly for older adults, children and people with existing health conditions.

But while the science is strong, our governance is not.

Cities enthusiastically announce ambitious tree-planting campaigns, biodiversity strategies and new greening targets. These initiatives are valuable, but they often focus on what is easy to count rather than what truly matters. Planting a tree is not the same as growing a healthy urban forest. Creating a park does not guarantee biodiversity. A green roof delivers little value if it fails during drought.

The real measure of success is whether urban nature continues providing benefits decades after trees are planted and established.

This is where cities are still falling short.

That is not simply an environmental issue. It is a public health issue, a climate adaptation issue, and an issue of social equity.

Unlike buildings or transport systems, urban nature rarely operates under consistent minimum standards. Many cities have no requirements for minimum tree canopy cover, adequate rooting space, soil quality, biodiversity targets, long-term maintenance or even whether newly planted trees survive. As a result, access to nature depends heavily on where people live. Wealthier neighborhoods often enjoy mature tree canopy and high-quality parks, while disadvantaged communities experience hotter streets, fewer green spaces and greater exposure to climate risks.

That is not simply an environmental issue. It is a public health issue, a climate adaptation issue, and an issue of social equity.

The solution is not simply to plant more trees. It is to establish urban nature standards that recognize nature as essential infrastructure.

These standards would not prescribe the same solution for every city. Instead, they would establish minimum expectations based on scientific evidence. They could include targets for accessible green space, minimum tree canopy cover, sufficient soil volume for healthy tree growth, biodiversity outcomes, long-term maintenance funding and routine monitoring to ensure that urban nature continues delivering benefits to communities.

The Bosco Verticale in Milan house around 800 trees and 20,000 plants. City officials have been expanding the green infrastructure with multiple high impact projects to address climate change. (Image credit: Emanuele Cremaschi/Getty Images) Importantly, these standards should focus on outcomes rather than simple planting targets. Counting how many trees are planted tells us little about whether cities are becoming more resilient. Measuring survival, canopy development, ecosystem health and equitable access provides a much better picture of whether investments in urban nature are actually returning dividends.

Some critics argue that cities cannot afford stronger standards for urban nature. Municipal budgets are already stretched by housing, transport and aging infrastructure. But this argument overlooks a fundamental reality: We already spend enormous sums responding to the consequences of extreme heat, flooding, poor air quality and declining public health. Healthy urban ecosystems help reduce these costs while delivering multiple benefits simultaneously.

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As climate change accelerates, the distinction between gray and green infrastructure becomes increasingly blurred. Trees cool buildings and reduce energy demand. Wetlands decrease flood damage. Parks improve public health and strengthen communities. These are not optional amenities. They are functioning components of urban infrastructure that deserve the same level of planning, investment and accountability as any engineered system.

Building codes transformed the safety of our cities because they established minimum standards that every development had to meet. Climate resilience now demands a similar transformation for urban nature.

The next generation of resilient cities will not be defined simply by how many trees they plant but by the standards they adopt to protect, restore and sustain the living infrastructure urban life depends on.

The real question is not whether cities can afford to invest in urban nature; it is whether they can afford not to.

Opinion on Live Science gives you insight on the most important issues in science that affect you and the world around you today, written by experts and leading scientists in their field.

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Ghost in the Shell lends itself to remakes more perhaps than any other manga to date.

The original story, written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow, is set in a world where identity and consciousness are no longer defined by the physical. Technology in this cyberpunk future has developed to the point where people now possess cyberbrains that allow them to interface with various networks and therefore inhabit different artificial forms, remoulding themselves each time.

The same is true of Mamoru Oshii's 1995 movie adaptation which arrived in theaters five years after the manga ended. Considered a box-office failure upon release, the film has since been heralded as a sci-fi classic, even though it deviated wildly in tone from the story that inspired it.

While Shirow's original work was funny and even goofy at points, this energy was redirected into a quieter, philosophical meditation on the meaning of life itself in the film. Subsequent adaptations largely stuck to this tone, including Oshii's more ponderous sequel, although Kenji Kamiyama's Stand Alone Complex dived further into political intrigue. The less said about Netflix's poorly-conceived SAC 2045, the better.

Fluidity is as integral to this franchise as wires and circuitry are to its dystopian future, yet even within this constant state of evolution, it took hitting a hard factory reset to now give us what might be the best version of Ghost in the Shell yet.

A new approach

(Image credit: Science Saru) Like previous adaptations, the vast sci-fi world of Science Saru's new Ghost in the Shell is centred by Motoko Kusanagi, a cyborg who leads the elite tactical unit Public Security Section 9 in their fight against cybercrime and terrorism. With help from a fellow cyborg named Batou, Kusanagi eventually comes into conflict with a mysterious hacker known as the Puppet Master who can control the cybernetic minds of others from afar for his own nefarious gains.

This fundamental wiring connects every version of Ghost in the Shell, no matter where their thematic emphasis might lean, but the most radical take on Kusanagi yet is the one that ends up being most faithful to the original story.

Leaning into the manga's spiritual roots, Science Saru draws heavily from the humor and lighthearted tone that initially defined this world in their new adaptation, giving us a new take on Ghost in the Shell that's never been seen on screen before.

The weighty existentialism that's become the default for this franchise has now taken a back seat in favor of jokes and even some slapstick comedy. While that might sound like an affront to what Ghost in the Shell has become known for, watching Kusanagi and her team bicker mid-firefight actually grounds this series with a newfound humanity which speaks to themes around identity in a very different, yet no less relevant way.

Key to this is how the remake rewires Kusanagi herself, transforming our introspective, incredibly serious lead into someone far more spunky in her approach to crimefighting.

This version of Kusanagi isn't afraid to tell you what she thinks, quick to crack jokes or blow up when things aren't going her way. "This is why I hate letting insensitive jerk wads into my brain," she says at one point, teasing her bestie Batou. Play your cards wrong and Kusanagi might even hack your ghost to make you punch yourself in the face.

But there's a lot of love there for her team still, and episode two even throws some physical loving her way, sexualising Kusanagi in ways that give her agency rather than just ogle at her body from afar (as has so often been the case in previous adaptations).

Although some areas of the fandom might be less than willing to embrace such change, this is far from a betrayal. Science Saru were in constant contact with the creator of Ghost in the Shell, regularly asking Shirow questions to ensure that the story was in line with his original vision.

That's also true of the animation, which harkens back to the manga with exaggerated features and retro vibes that feel like they've been lifted directly from the pages of Young Magazine Zōkan: Kaizokuban (where Ghost in the Shell first appeared circa 1989).

Human nature

(Image credit: Science Saru) The character work is more expressive, matching the new energy this remake brings, and the colors are far more vibrant too. Early on in episode one, there's a scene where bright red robotic devices shine under the sun that streams through branches of cherry blossom trees as they shed their petals overhead, creating a gorgeous vista that's miles removed from the cold tech-noir cityscapes this franchise is usually known for. Those still exist though, of course. It's just that the remake brings more variety and intriguing use of light to its palette.

And it's not like the serious undertones of Kusanagi's mission are absent entirely. Those bursts of color sometimes come with bursts of pixelated blood in a series where violence remains intrinsic to said mission. The members of Public Security Section 9 regularly fight for their lives in explosive gunfights where death, be it the death of a human or the destruction of their cybernetic shell, is commonplace throughout.

This again brings into question what it means to be a human, how technology can lead us further from our essence, or our "ghosts", if you will. Such concerns are threaded into wider, even more timely issues around corruption, human experimentation and the abuse of AI, which, while always present in the franchise, are accentuated further here. So this is very much a Ghost in the Shell story still, perhaps more so than any other adaptation so far given Science Saru's dogmatic faithfulness to the original text.

Such an approach doesn't automatically guarantee success though. Where the remake succeeds most is in how it balances all this so well, finding humor within dystopia without sacrificing the tension and extreme violence that's inherent to this property. Like they've done so effectively in Dandadan, Science Saru brings seemingly disparate tones together with what feels like ease, enhanced of course by the world-class visuals and voice-acting you'd expect from a studio of such repute.

Who knew that a humorous take on Ghost in the Shell would turn out to be one of this year's biggest and best surprises? And even more surprisingly, who knew that this would turn out to be one of the rare remakes that justifies its existence by being more faithful to the original, not less? Ghost in the Shell continues to subvert expectations even now, 37 years after Shirow first put pen to paper, but that's incredibly fitting for a franchise long defined by change.

Ghost in the Shell episode 1 is out now on Prime Video. Make sure you don't miss a moment with our The Ghost in the Shell release schedule . We've also got a list of the best shows on Prime Video to keep you busy too.