He ' s great , Celtic has secured themselves a LB for years to come <| sep |> This recommendation will either be great or terrible , but the dialogues of Plato . They ' re nonfiction philosophical essays of allegedly real conversations , where the ' protagonist ' Socrates argues various philosophical topics with other citizens and philosophers in ancient Greece recorded and fleshed out by his student Plato , who was a pretty smart bloke in his own right . Technically they do cover everything you are asking for rational debate , intelligent speakers , good oratory for the time , at least , and Socratic questioning . Plato was a beautiful writer and Socrates an incredible thinker . However , you might find the subject matter uninterestingantiquated , or too challenging not that I want to make any assumptions about you , but they can be hard to follow . You could either start with the ' easier ' dialogues which are Symposium what is love and Phaedo is the soul immortal . Or you could start with the most popular trio Euthyphro what is holiness , Apology Socrates ' defence during his trial , and Crito what is justice . These three are generally to be read in this order , followed by Phaedo , because they cover the trial and death of Socrates . There are plenty of topics to choose from if you do some googling . Or for a purely fictional version of this type of format , check out Ishmael by Daniel Quinn . There ' s also The Sunset Limited by Cormac McCarthy .