Suggest me a book that’s like spending a week with a wise person who knows a lot about life, psychologically, scientifically, and politically

Think about this: if there an old intellectual who read a lot and studied a lot. Say you sit with them for some time, you'll get a nice genersl understanding of why life is this way, and why people act the way they do. Now that same one can also write a medium-sized book. Now I'm trying to find that book. Thanks