diff --git a/R/sand-package.r b/R/sand-package.r
index c812f62..e5a5aad 100644
--- a/R/sand-package.r
+++ b/R/sand-package.r
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-#' sand
-#'
-#' @name sand
-#' @docType package
-NULL
+
+install_sand_packages <- function() {
+  pkgs <- strsplit(packageDescription("sand")$Suggests, "[, \n]+")[[1]]
+  source("http://bioconductor.org/biocLite.R")
+  biocLite(pkgs, suppressUpdates=TRUE, suppressAutoUpdate=TRUE)
+}
diff --git a/man/install_sand_packages.Rd b/man/install_sand_packages.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4f28c1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/install_sand_packages.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+\name{install_sand_packages}
+\alias{install_sand_packages}
+\title{Install all packages used in the book}
+\description{This function makes it easy to download and install
+  all R packages that are used in the book \sQuote{Statistical Analysis
+    of Network Data with R}.
+}
+\usage{
+install_sand_packages()
+}
+\details{
+  The function uses the BioConductor installer, as this can
+  install both all required BioConductor and CRAN packages.
+}
+\value{
+  Returns the names of the installed packages, invisibly.
+}
+\author{
+  Gabor Csardi \email{csardi.gabor@gmail.com}
+}