ISBN 9781913260576 (paperback), 236 pages

Think clearly. Speak persuasively. Make better arguments.

Finalist, The Independent Author Network 2025 Book Awards

Why do intelligent people lose arguments?
Why do bad ideas spread faster than good ones?
And why is it that being right is often not enough?

The ancient Greeks and Romans wrestled with these same questions more than two thousand years ago. Their answers remain as relevant today as ever.

In How to Think Like Plato and Speak Like Cicero, psychiatrist and philosopher Dr Neel Burton combines the wisdom of classical philosophy with the practical tools of rhetoric to help you think more clearly, communicate more effectively, and persuade more convincingly.

Drawing on Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and other great thinkers, you’ll discover how reasoning and persuasion work together—and why mastering both is essential in a world overflowing with misinformation, manipulation, and noise.

You’ll learn:

• How to think more clearly and avoid common errors in reasoning
• How to recognise fallacies, cognitive biases, and self-deception
• How knowledge, intuition, imagination, and emotion contribute to good judgement
• Why persuasion is about much more than logic alone
• How to use ethos, pathos, timing, and style to strengthen your message
• How to handle bad-faith arguments and modern-day sophists
• How to present your ideas with confidence, clarity, and impact

Whether you’re a student, professional, leader, writer, speaker, or simply someone who wants to think better and communicate better, this book offers a practical classical education for the modern world.

Because the best arguments don’t always win.
But the best thinkers and speakers change minds.

About the author

Dr Neel Burton FRSA is a psychiatrist and philosopher who lives and teaches in Oxford, England. His other books include The Gang of Three: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Hypersanity: Thinking Beyond Thinking. His work features regularly in the likes of Aeon and Psychology Today, and has been translated into several languages. This is his third book on thinking skills.

Editorial reviews

Concise and accessible, insightful and thought-provoking. Aristotle’s thoughts on politics round off an outstanding book that is highly recommended. —Readers’ Favorite

A brilliant synthesis of classical philosophy and rhetoric that is urgently needed in this age of misinformation. —KC Finn, USA Today best-selling author

Whether you’re a novice or someone already knee-deep in debate, this is a guide for everyone. —Jamie Michele, award-winning author

A surprisingly engaging and relevant look at the wisdom of the ancients. —CR Hurst, author and teacher of writing

Burton seeks to bridge the gap between ancient philosophy and modern challenges, offering insights that resonate deeply in today’s troubled world. —Plato’s Academy Centre

Contents list

Introduction

Part I: How to Think

1. Arguments
2. Fallacies
3. Self-Deception
4. Cognitive Biases
5. Reason
6. Knowledge
7. Science
8. Intuition
9. Emotion
10. Imagination
11. Wisdom
12. Plato’s Cave

Part II: How to Speak

13. Rhetoric Versus Dialectic
14. Gorgias and Greek Rhetoric
15. Cicero and Roman Rhetoric
16. Ethos and Decorum
17. Pathos
18. Kairos
19. The Five Canons and Six Parts
20. Rhetorical Devices
21. Opening and Closing
22. Planning and Preparing
23. Practicalities
24. Killer Moves and Quagmires

◆ Grab your copy now for the ultimate classical, liberal education that we never got.

Intelligence without eloquence is impotence, but eloquence without intelligence is worse than silence.

Burton has a clear talent for narration and is able to distil complex topics into understandable gems. —BookLife

Never before have so many people known so much, and understood so little. Ideas compete constantly for our attention, yet truth does not always prevail. The best arguments are often ignored, while the loudest voices carry the day. 

To meet this challenge, we need two ancient arts: the art of thinking and the art of speaking. 

The first teaches us how to reason, how to distinguish knowledge from opinion, and how to guard against self-deception. The second teaches us how to communicate what we know, move others to action, and give our ideas force in the world. 

The Greeks called the first philosophy and the second rhetoric. Plato devoted his life to the pursuit of wisdom. Cicero devoted his to the art of eloquence. Together, they offer something approaching a complete education—not merely in what to think, but in how to think, speak, judge, and live. 

In Plato’s Philebus, the sophist Protarchus tells Socrates: 

“I have often heard Gorgias maintain that the art of persuasion far surpassed every other; this, as he says, is by far the best of them all, for to it all things submit, not by compulsion, but of their own free will.” 

More than two thousand years later, a young Winston Churchill arrived at much the same conclusion: 

“Of all the talents bestowed upon men, none is so precious as the gift of oratory. He who enjoys it wields a power more durable than that of a great king.” 

The history of ideas is, in large part, the history of ideas communicated. Wisdom without expression remains hidden. Expression without wisdom misleads. The greatest thinkers have always understood that truth and persuasion are not rivals but partners. 

What a waste that so many who can think cannot speak, and so many who can speak cannot think, when these two things ought to go hand in hand. 

This book is an invitation to cultivate both.

Some of the ideas in this book are explored in the following articles:

• How to Structure a Speech or Essay, The Classical Way
• How the Ancient Greeks Invented the Art of Persuasion
• How Intelligent People Are Persuaded by Bad Arguments