Ethics is important to me as well. It guides most everything I do with the exception of survival. And if you ask me, all ethics comes down to a single point - empathy. Plainly put: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Socrates was an amazing fella. Not much has been preserved well enough from that time period, and Socrates is one of the few who made it. That alone makes him worth checking out.

There is an unbroken line from him to Plato to Aristotle to Alexander to the great library of Alexandria - the latter of which is the topic of "The Rise and Fall of Alexandria" which is a fantastic read.