I am still dipping my toes in Stewart Elliott Guthrie's deep tome, Faces In the Clouds: A New Theory of Religion, which covers this subject as it relates to religion. This book puts forth the theory that early humans with anthropomorphic tendencies had a better chance of surviving. Simple example of this theory: If you see a shape and you think it looks like a bear or some other threatening creature, then your survival chances are better than if you think it is just a rock. If it is indeed a rock and not a bear, no harm done. However, if it is indeed a bear and you don't interpret it as a potential threat, then your chances of survival go down.
I have also been sampling a variety of other thought-provoking books on evolving scientific perceptions of human mind and consciousness.
When They Severed Earth From Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth by Elizabeth Wayland Barber and Paul T. Barber - Dr. Barber, one of my favorite authors, who co-authored this book with her husband, also a professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles, explores the way myths preserve historical truths.
Consciousness Explained by Daniel Dennett - Computers, brains, and more! Older book, with lots of geeky, mathematical goodness.
Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf - Questions the notion that humans are really "born to read".
Outliers and other books by Malcolm Gladwell - Gladwell makes interesting assumptions and turns common perceptions of reality inside out in an interesting way.
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