diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ea287db..8157f5a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -95,9 +95,19 @@ Creek will most likely return nil for a cell with images if there is no other te
 
 ## Remote files
 
+To download a remote file, use your favorite HTTP client to download to a
+temporary file. Here's an example:
+
 ```ruby
-remote_url = 'http://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/tmp/test.xlsx'
-Creek::Book.new remote_url, remote: true
+require 'http'
+
+zipfile = Tempfile.new("foo")
+zipfile.binmode
+zipfile.write(HTTP.get(path).to_s)
+zipfile.close
+path = zipfile.path
+
+Creek::Book.new path
 ```
 
 ## Contributing
diff --git a/creek.gemspec b/creek.gemspec
index 7ad309f..316b1d6 100644
--- a/creek.gemspec
+++ b/creek.gemspec
@@ -27,5 +27,4 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |spec|
 
   spec.add_dependency 'nokogiri', '>= 1.7.0'
   spec.add_dependency 'rubyzip', '>= 1.0.0'
-  spec.add_dependency 'http', '~> 4.0'
 end
diff --git a/lib/creek/book.rb b/lib/creek/book.rb
index 613cac6..33b9509 100644
--- a/lib/creek/book.rb
+++ b/lib/creek/book.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 require 'zip/filesystem'
 require 'nokogiri'
 require 'date'
-require 'http'
 
 module Creek
 
@@ -20,13 +19,6 @@ def initialize path, options = {}
         extension = File.extname(options[:original_filename] || path).downcase
         raise 'Not a valid file format.' unless (['.xlsx', '.xlsm'].include? extension)
       end
-      if options[:remote]
-        zipfile = Tempfile.new("file")
-        zipfile.binmode
-        zipfile.write(HTTP.get(path).to_s)
-        zipfile.close
-        path = zipfile.path
-      end
       @files = Zip::File.open(path)
       @shared_strings = SharedStrings.new(self)
     end
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index 13f918c..d71b707 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 require 'creek'
 require 'pry'
+require 'time'
 
diff --git a/spec/test_spec.rb b/spec/test_spec.rb
index 2ba1ebb..3e17daf 100644
--- a/spec/test_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/test_spec.rb
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@
   end
 end
 
-describe 'Creek parsing a file with large numbrts.' do
+describe 'Creek parsing a file with large numbers.' do
   before(:all) do
     @creek = Creek::Book.new 'spec/fixtures/large_numbers.xlsx'
     @expected_simple_rows = [{"A"=>"7.83294732E8", "B"=>"783294732", "C"=>783294732.0}]