he problem of reading scientific texts seems to lie in the fact that here one needsnot a short-term memory but a long-term memory in order to gain reference pointsfor distinguishing the essential from the unessential and the new from the merelyrepetitive. But one cannot remember everything. That would be memorization. Inother words, you have to be able to read highly selectively and pull out widelyinterconnected references. One must be able to understand recursions. But howdoes one learn this, if no instructions can be given; or at best aboutconspicuousness (as in the previous sentence for example “recursions”, but not“must”)?Perhaps the best method is to take notes – not excerpts, but condensedreformulations of what has been read. The re-description of what has already beendescribed leads almost automatically to the training of an attention for “frames”,for schemes of observation or even for conditions that lead to the text offeringcertain descriptions and not others. In doing so, it is useful to always consider:What is not meant, what is excluded, when something specific is asserted? Whentalking about “human rights”: What does the author distinguish his statementsfrom? From non-human rights? From human obligations? Or culturallycomparatively or historically from populations that do not know human rights andcan live with them quite well?