Borrachos: cómo bebimos, bailamos y tropezamos en nuestro camino...

I’ll admit I side-eyed the premise at first—*another* book about how alcohol shaped humanity? But *Borrachos* disarmed me in the first chapter with a mix of hard data and hilarious asides (like the bit about baboons stealing fermented marula fruit, which had me pausing to laugh). Slingerland’s thesis—that our species’ ‘controlled loss of control’ fueled art, religion, and even agriculture—isn’t just provocative; it’s backed by studies on everything from dopamine spikes in ancient breweries to how *Beowulf*’s mead-hall scenes function as political theater. The audiobook’s structure mirrors its argument: episodic, digressive, but always circling back to a central question: *What if sobriety is the outlier?* Borda’s performance is a masterclass in matching tone to text. His voice has the warm rasp of a professor who’s had one too many coffees (or whiskeys), and he leans into Slingerland’s humor without overplaying it. My only critique? The ambient sound design—subtle clinks of glasses, distant chatter—sometimes clashes with the narration’s volume, forcing me to adjust my headphones. And while the book’s sprawl is part of its charm, the final chapter’s abrupt pivot to modern ‘sober curiosity’ movements feels tacked on, like a hangover after a brilliant night out. Still, it’s a minor stumble in an otherwise exhilarating listen. If you’ve ever wondered why humans *need* to get drunk—or why your best ideas come at 2 a.m.—this is your audiobook.