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tut comments on Open Thread, May 4 - May 10, 2015 - Less Wrong Discussion
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When studying history I sometimes find the hardest thing for me is wrapping my brain around how people actually thought back then. I'm so ingrained with modern Western science-based thinking that it's really hard for me to envision how people outside that box actually think. Can anyone suggest some books or articles that explain the differences in modes of thought between us modern educated Westerners and other cultures / time periods?
Edit 1: I think what I'm looking for is something like the following book, just on current vs. past cultures and/or cultures other than just Asian vs. Western:
Richard Nisbett, The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why.
Edit 2: As some commenters have alluded to, a lot of what confuses me about past cultures would probably also apply to non-scientific cultures today.
You seem to be interested in history of mentalities. Try something that is classified under this label. I can recommend "The Great Cat Massacre" by Robert Darnton [1], which is a short and interesting book about 18th century France that is quite easy to read since it is based on a course the author taught at Princeton University. A few years ago I have read "A history of European mentalities" by Peter Dinzelbacher, which covers a lot of topics and seems to be very close to what you want, but I am not sure if it is available in English.
[1] Curiously, there is another book by the same name which is about a different cat massacre.