10 best books of July 2014, according to Amazon's editors

From the true story of a commercial flight gone terribly wrong to a debut novel set in a post-apocalyptic California forest, this list of favorite July releases from Amazon editors is a very varied collection. Here are all 10 Amazon picks, with thoughts on each titled shared with the Monitor by Amazon editorial director Sara Nelson. 

1. 'War of the Whales,' by Joshua Horwitz

This nonfiction title by Horwitz, cofounder of Living Planet Books, tells the story of lawyer Joel Reynolds, who determines that the US Navy's use of high-intensity active sonar to locate submarines is also causing whales to beach themselves. A marine biologist, Ken Balcomb, who was trying to solve the mystery of the mass beachings, works with Reynolds to get the word out about the true cause. Amazon editorial director Sara Nelson calls the book "complex and interesting." "It's really like a big whodunit," she says. "The good guys are not entirely good and the bad guys are not entirely bad." 

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