diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 6b8519f..1926f84 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -13,3 +13,10 @@ rust:
 matrix:
     allow_failures:
         - rust: nightly
+
+script:
+    - if [[ "$TRAVIS_RUST_VERSION" == "nightly" ]]; then
+          cargo test --features readme;
+      else
+          cargo test;
+      fi
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index df18a09..e9a2270 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -16,3 +16,9 @@ exclude = ["/.travis.yml", "/dev"]
 
 [badges]
 travis-ci = { repository = "dguo/strsim-rs" }
+
+[dev-dependencies]
+doc-comment = "0.3"
+
+[features]
+readme = [] # to be used to test readme examples as long as cfg(doctest) is unstable
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 131a65a..6058081 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,16 @@
 //! This library implements string similarity metrics.
 
+#![cfg_attr(feature = "readme", feature(cfg_doctest))]
+
+#[cfg(feature = "readme")]
+#[cfg(doctest)]
+#[macro_use]
+extern crate doc_comment;
+
+#[cfg(feature = "readme")]
+#[cfg(doctest)]
+doctest!("../README.md");
+
 use std::char;
 use std::cmp::{max, min};
 use std::collections::HashMap;