The Essential Descartes (Essentials)

From the endpaper:
"On November 10, 1619, a 23-year-old youth found himself sitting alone before a stove in a Bavarian farmhouse, deep in meditation. Out of his meditation grew a dream - to create a system of thought , a scientific method, that would serve to shed light on all objects of human inquiry, whether in the realms of mathematics, philosophy, or biology."

I haven't read Descartes for many years. This short description whets the appetite to return to this seminal figure in the history of philosophy. Descartes teaches how to think clearly and methodically, and this book hits the right notes in an overview of his work.