Reddit reviews The Illustrated World's Religions: A Guide to Our Wisdom Traditions

For those interested:

• The Little Prince
  
• Eating Animals
  
• The Hero With A Thousand Faces
  
• The Illustrated World's Religions
  
• Jihad vs. McWorld
  
• Collapse
  
• Just And Unjust Wars
  
• Descent Into Chaos
  
• The Landmark Thucydides
  
• A People's History of the United States

I've seen variants of the story with the "man" replaced by "angel", for some reason. To be exact, it was here.

Same book (which is otherwise wonderfully written, refreshingly non-judgmental and such) also says Buddha's teaching was devoid of the supernatural and traditions, even though reading other parts of the book carefully already contradict this.

Literally 30 seconds on Amazon (Subject: History, Keywords: Religion) gives a ton of good-looking books:

Of course! Comparitive Religions for Dummies

Huston Smith is a fairly famous writer in this area: The Illustrated World's Religions

Nat Geo should be neutral: National Geographic Concise History of World Religions

By the author of the Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, World Religions: The Great Faiths Explored & Explained

I recommend you get the used paperback of this - you can get it for $6 shipped. Or you can get ones w/o illustrations for $4 shipped. Or you can probably find it at your library.

https://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Worlds-Religions-Wisdom-Traditions/dp/0060674407