diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3259c9f..6596253 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,8 +1,21 @@
-# booksite
+# The Go Programming Language
 
-Companion website for the book "The Go Programming Language".
+This repository provides the downloadable example programs
+for the book, "The Go Programming Language"; see http://www.gopl.io.
 
-The gh-pages branch is published at www.gopl.io (as determined by the
-CNAME file in the root of that branch).
+(At present, only gopl.io/ch1/helloworld is available.  The other
+programs will be published as soon as the book is printed.)
+
+You can download, build, and run the programs with the following commands:
+
+	$ export GOPATH=$HOME/gobook            # choose workspace directory
+	$ go get gopl.io/ch1/helloworld         # fetch, build, install
+	$ $GOPATH/bin/helloworld                # run
+	Hello, 世界
+
+Many of the programs contain comments of the form `//!+` and `//!-`.
+These comments bracket the parts of the programs that are excerpted in the
+book; you can safely ignore them.  In a few cases, programs
+have been reformatted in an unnatural way so that they can be presented
+in stages in the book.
 
-The book examples will at some point be published here too.