cats

I'd like to recommend a book that kick-started my journey into thinking about and understanding humans as social animals and why we gather as we do. The deeply ingrained need to eat, dance, and gossip, and how that might translate into modern times by marching together. And also how important compassion and empathy is for our survival, and why it might feel more distant the bigger our world has become.

Dawn over the Kalahari : how humans became human by Lasse Berg.

There are other books in the series tackling more modern times that I haven't read (I haven't found them in a language I speak well enough) that might actually be even more relevant to where you are today if you can find and understand them... but even the first book, particularly towards the end tying it all together and the social shift from gatheres to farmers, was a great philosophical jumping off point for me.

The first half is quite dry and I'm sure there is better material out there but this one did it for me back in the day. Hopefully it holds up still, and perhaps you'll find it interesting.