For those interested in reading Descartes:

[jadesolitude]

His works (and specifically the Principles of Philosophy, which contain much of the Meditations) should "first be read straight through completely, like a novel, without the reader straining his attention too much or stopping at diffiuclties he may encounter, in order simply to know in broad outline what the matters are of which I treat; and then afterwards, if he considers them to merit further examination, he may read it a second time in order to observe the development of my reasonings; but that he must not then give it up in despair, if he cannot follow it completely throughout or understand all the reasonings; he has only to mark with a stroke of his pen the places where he comes across difficulties and to continue to read without interruption to the end; then if he takes up the book for the third time, I feel sure that he will find the solution of most of the difficulties he marked before; and that, if any still remain, their solution will evidently be found in a further reading."

Reading Descartes after this fashion will likely help many overcome the difficulties of understanding his text.