diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a9f726e..bf47c42 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,6 +13,159 @@ HMAC-SHA256 (Encrypt-then-Mac). HKDF is used to split the user-provided key into
 two keys: one for encryption, and the other for authentication. It is
 implemented using the `openssl_` and `hash_hmac` functions.
 
+## Installing this Library
+
+### Using Composer
+
+```sh
+composer require defuse/php-encryption
+```
+
+### Direct Installation (Phar)
+
+Download the PHP Archive and public key. Place both of them in the same directory (e.g. `vendor/defuse/php-encryption.phar` and `vendor/defuse/php-encryption.phar.pubkey`).
+
+Then, just add this line and you're golden:
+
+```php
+require_once "vendor/defuse/php-encryption.phar";
+```
+
+### Direct Installation (Manual)
+
+Download the [latest release](https://github.com/defuse/php-encryption/releases). Extract all of the files into a directory on your webserver (e.g. `/var/www/lib/defuse/php-encryption`).
+
+Then add this to your PHP scripts:
+
+```php
+require '/var/www/lib/defuse/php-encryption/autoload.php';
+```
+
+## Using this Library
+
+1. Generate and store an encryption key.
+2. Encrypt plaintext strings with your key to obtain ciphertext, using `Crypto`.
+3. Decrypt ciphertext strings with your key to obtain plaintext, using `Crypto`.
+4. Encrypt/decrypt files with your key, using `File`.
+
+### Generate and Store an Encryption Key
+
+Generate a new key:
+
+```php
+$key = \Defuse\Crypto\Key::createNewRandomKey();
+````
+
+The above command will generate a random encryption key, using a 
+cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator. This will generally only
+need to be done *once* if you need to reuse this key for multiple messages.
+
+```php
+$encryptionKeyDataForStorage = $key->saveToAsciiSafeString()
+```
+
+This returns an encoded string that you can use to persist a key across multiple
+runs of the application. You might decide to copy it to a configuration file
+not tracked by Git, for example. To load it again on the next script execution,
+just do this:
+
+```php
+$key = \Defuse\Crypto\Key::LoadFromAsciiSafeString($storedKeyData);
+```
+
+### Encrypting Strings
+
+Once you have a `Key` object, you're ready to encrypt data. All you have to do
+is pass your desired string and the `Key` object to `Crypto::encrypt()`.
+
+```php
+try {
+    $ciphertext = \Defuse\Crypto\Crypto::encrypt("Test message", $key);
+} catch (\Defuse\Crypto\Exception\CryptoTestFailedException $ex) {
+    die("Our platform is not secure enough to use this cryptography library.");
+}
+```
+
+### Decrypting Strings
+
+If encryption made sense, then the decryption API should be intuitive and
+precisely what you expect it to be:
+
+```php
+try {
+    $plaintext = \Defuse\Crypto\Crypto::decrypt($ciphertext, $key);
+} catch (\Defuse\Crypto\Exception\CryptoTestFailedException $ex) {
+    die("Our platform is not secure enough to use this cryptography library.");
+} catch (\Defuse\Crypto\Exception\InvalidCiphertextException $ex) {
+    die("Ciphertext was modified in transit.");
+}
+```
+
+### Interlude: A Complete Example
+
+First, generate a key and store it:
+
+```php
+<?php
+require_once "/path/to/defuse/php-encryption/autoload.php';
+$key = \Defuse\Crypto\Key::createNewRandomKey();
+file_put_contents('shared_key.txt', $key->saveToAsciiSafeString());
+```
+
+The two scripts below, `encrypt_msg.php` and `decrypt_msg.php` are command-line
+PHP scripts meant to encrypt/decrypt messages using a pre-shared-key.
+
+Sender:
+
+```php
+<?php
+use \Defuse\Crypto\Crypto;
+use \Defuse\Crypto\Key;
+require_once "/path/to/defuse/php-encryption/autoload.php';
+
+$keyData = file_get_contents('shared_key.txt');
+$key = Key::LoadFromAsciiSafeString($keyData);
+
+$encrypted = Crypto::encrypt($argv[1], $key);
+echo $encrypted, "\n";
+```
+
+Receiver:
+
+```php
+<?php
+use \Defuse\Crypto\Crypto;
+use \Defuse\Crypto\Key;
+require_once "/path/to/defuse/php-encryption/autoload.php';
+
+$keyData = file_get_contents('shared_key.txt');
+$key = Key::LoadFromAsciiSafeString();
+
+$decrypted = Crypto::decrypt($argv[1], $key);
+echo $decrypted, "\n";
+```
+
+If you run this command:
+
+    php decrypt_msg.php `php encrypt_msg.php It\ Works\!`
+
+It will print "It works!" into your console. Now, assuming you and your 
+recipient have the same `shared-key.txt`, you can send messages to/from them and
+only they should be able to decrypt them.
+
+### Encrypting and Decrypting Files
+
+In addition to our standard `Crypto::encrypt()` and `Crypto::decrypt()` 
+interface, this library has a separate class for encrypting/decrypting files.
+
+This is mostly useful for encrypting large files (say, 1.5 GB) on a machine with
+very low memory usage (say, a maximum of 64 MB of RAM).
+
+```php
+\Defuse\Crypto\File::encryptFile($inputFilename, $outputFilename, $key);
+\Defuse\Crypto\File::decryptFile($encryptedFile, $plaintextFile, $key);
+```
+
 Audit Status
 -------------
 
@@ -74,17 +227,12 @@ This library is developed around several core values:
 
 - Rule #4: The library should require no special installation.
 
-    > Some PHP encryption libraries, like libsodium-php [1], are not
-    > straightforward to install and cannot packaged with "just download and
-    > extract" applications. This library will always be just a handful of PHP
-    > files that you can copy to your source tree and require().
-
-References:
-
-    [1] https://github.com/jedisct1/libsodium-php
+    > Some PHP encryption libraries, like [libsodium-php](https://github.com/jedisct1/libsodium-php),
+    > are not straightforward to install and cannot packaged with "just download
+    > and extract" applications. This library will always be just a handful of
+    > PHP files that you can copy to your source tree and require().
 
 Authors
 ---------
 
-This library is authored by Taylor Hornby and Scott Arciszewski.
-
+This library is authored by [Taylor Hornby](https://bqp.io) and [Scott Arciszewski](https://paragonie.com/blog/author/scott-arciszewski).