I have argued for years that sports should be understood the same way as art, though I have no actual theoretical or practical understanding of the art world, art history, or the ways that our commodity culture distorts the artistic process.

• Author: Zirin, Dave
• Position: OUR FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2013 - '9.5 Theses on Art and Class', 'The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football', 'League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth', 'I Never had It Made' and 'Long Division' - Book review

I have argued for years that sports should be understood the same way as art, though I have no actual theoretical or practical understanding of the art world, art history, or the ways that our commodity culture distorts the artistic process. That is why the book 9.5 Theses on Art and Class (Haymarket Books), by Ben Davis, makes my list. It is a politically bracing, utterly illuminating, and never-boring excavation of the political economy of the contemporary art world. The analysis of everything from video game designers to experimental artists is fascinating. It has also illuminated my understanding of sports, even though the words LeBron James never once make it into the text.

This year has seen a slew of remarkable sports books, such as Jeffrey Benedict and Armen Keteyian's The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football and League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth, by Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada.

But the sports book I want to recognize is the reissue of Jackie Robinson's autobiography, I Never Had It Made (Ecco), in conjunction with the box-office smash biopic 42. I found 42 to be a disappointing caricature of the complicated man who smashed baseball's color line. I Never Had It Made is arguably the best sports memoir ever written precisely because it is...