Funny…I’ve always found that very thing to be an incredibly useful endeavor. YMMV.
I’d second (or third) G,G &S or anything esle by Jared Diamond. “Why is Sex Fun?” is a good one. As for religion, anything by Karen Armstong is good…I believe she wrote a biography of Buddha amoung other things.
A Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan is well thought of by myself and many others on this board.
The Tao of Physics by Firtjof Capra. Notes the similarities between eastern religions and partical physics.
Pretty much anything by Robert Anton Wilson. For fiction, start with Illuminatus and Shrodinger’s Cat. For non-fiction theres Cosmic Trigger and Promethius Rising.
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.
Read it, then pass it on. That’s how most people get it.