I second the recommendation for Nongbri's "Before Religion". It definitely improved my understanding of what it is we even mean / have meant by "religion". For a more evolutionary understanding of religion, I'd recommend Joseph Henrich's "The WEIRDest People in the World" and "The Secret of our Success". Finally though certainly not least importantly, I'd recommend Iain McGilchrist's "The Master and His Emissary" and "The Matter with Things". Both touch on how it is we see and understand the world and how the current default perspective differs from those of other times and places.
Also recommended in this reply
- Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept
- The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World
- The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World
- The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous