diff --git a/README b/README
index 2907d64..1845f4e 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,12 +1,24 @@
 This is "flawfinder" by David A. Wheeler, <dwheeler@dwheeler.com>.
-It's a simple Python program for scanning C/C++ source code
-for security problems. It uses lexical scanning to find tokens
+
+Flawfinder is a simple program that scans C/C++ source code and reports
+potential security problems.  It can be a useful tool for examining
+software, and it can also serve as a simple introduction to static source code
+analysis tools more generally.  It is designed to be easy to install and use.
+
+More technically, flawfinder uses lexical scanning to find tokens
 (such as function names) that suggest likely problems, estimates their
 level of risk (e.g., by the text of function calls), and reports the resutlts.
 
 For more information, see:
  http://www.dwheeler.com/flawfinder
 
-See INSTALL.txt for installation instructions.
-It is released under the GNU GPL license version 2 or later (GPLv2+).
+On Unix/Linux/POSIX systems, you can typically install it by extracting
+its files, using "cd" to enter its directory, and then run this:
+  sudo make prefix=/usr install
+You can omit the "prefix=/usr"; it will then install under "/usr/local".
+The file INSTALL.txt has more detailed installation instructions.
+Flawfinder requires Python 2 (version 2.5 or later).
+
+Flawfinder is released under the GNU GPL license version 2 or later (GPLv2+).
+See the COPYING file for more license information.