diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4eceed1f..2a61f645 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -22,43 +22,48 @@ pip install cqlengine
 
 ```python
 #first, define a model
->>> from cqlengine import columns
->>> from cqlengine.models import Model
+from cqlengine import columns
+from cqlengine.models import Model
 
->>> class ExampleModel(Model):
->>>     example_id      = columns.UUID(primary_key=True)  
->>>     example_type    = columns.Integer(index=True)
->>>     created_at      = columns.DateTime()
->>>     description     = columns.Text(required=False)
+class ExampleModel(Model):
+    read_repair_chance = 0.05  # optional - defaults to 0.1
+    
+    example_id      = columns.UUID(primary_key=True)  
+    example_type    = columns.Integer(index=True)
+    created_at      = columns.DateTime()
+    description     = columns.Text(required=False)
 
 #next, setup the connection to your cassandra server(s)...
->>> from cqlengine import connection
->>> connection.setup(['127.0.0.1:9160'])
+from cqlengine import connection
+connection.setup(['127.0.0.1:9160'])
 
 #...and create your CQL table
->>> from cqlengine.management import create_table
->>> create_table(ExampleModel)
+from cqlengine.management import create_table
+create_table(ExampleModel)
 
 #now we can create some rows:
->>> em1 = ExampleModel.create(example_type=0, description="example1")
->>> em2 = ExampleModel.create(example_type=0, description="example2")
->>> em3 = ExampleModel.create(example_type=0, description="example3")
->>> em4 = ExampleModel.create(example_type=0, description="example4")
->>> em5 = ExampleModel.create(example_type=1, description="example5")
->>> em6 = ExampleModel.create(example_type=1, description="example6")
->>> em7 = ExampleModel.create(example_type=1, description="example7")
->>> em8 = ExampleModel.create(example_type=1, description="example8")
+em1 = ExampleModel.create(example_type=0, description="example1")
+em2 = ExampleModel.create(example_type=0, description="example2")
+em3 = ExampleModel.create(example_type=0, description="example3")
+em4 = ExampleModel.create(example_type=0, description="example4")
+em5 = ExampleModel.create(example_type=1, description="example5")
+em6 = ExampleModel.create(example_type=1, description="example6")
+em7 = ExampleModel.create(example_type=1, description="example7")
+em8 = ExampleModel.create(example_type=1, description="example8")
 # Note: the UUID and DateTime columns will create uuid4 and datetime.now
 # values automatically if we don't specify them when creating new rows
 
+# alternative syntax for creating new objects
+ExampleModel(example_type=0, description="example9").save()
+
 #and now we can run some queries against our table
->>> ExampleModel.objects.count()
+ExampleModel.objects.count()
 8
->>> q = ExampleModel.objects(example_type=1)
->>> q.count()
+q = ExampleModel.objects(example_type=1)
+q.count()
 4
->>> for instance in q:
->>>     print q.description
+for instance in q:
+    print q.description
 example5
 example6
 example7
@@ -67,11 +72,11 @@ example8
 #here we are applying additional filtering to an existing query
 #query objects are immutable, so calling filter returns a new
 #query object
->>> q2 = q.filter(example_id=em5.example_id)
+q2 = q.filter(example_id=em5.example_id)
 
->>> q2.count()
+q2.count()
 1
->>> for instance in q2:
->>>     print q.description
+for instance in q2:
+    print q.description
 example5
 ```