diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5f50a98..acebc58 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,45 +1,45 @@
 # lethe README
 
-```lethe``` is a Python module for git-based snapshotting.
+`lethe` is a Python module for git-based snapshotting.
 
-```lethe``` is intended as a mechanism for creating commits outside 
+`lethe` is intended as a mechanism for creating commits outside
 the standard git branching/tagging workflows. It is meant to enable
 additional use-cases without disrupting the standard workflows.
 Use cases include:
 
 - Short-lived:
     - On-disk **undo log**
-    - **Syncing work-in-progress** between computers before it's ready 
+    - **Syncing work-in-progress** between computers before it's ready
 - Long-lived:
     - **lab notebook**: Recording the code / configuration state that resulted in a given output
-    - **incremental backup**: Space-efficient time-based backups of a codebase 
+    - **incremental backup**: Space-efficient time-based backups of a codebase
 
 
 ## Usage
 
-### Creating a commit from the command line 
+### Creating a commit from the command line
 ```bash
 $ cd path/to/repo
 $ lethe
 122d058e375274a186c407f28602c3b14a2cab95
 ```
 This effectively snapshots the current state of the repository (as would be seen by
-```git add --all```) and creates a new commit (```122d058e375274a186c407f28602c3b14a2cab95```)
+`git add --all`) and creates a new commit (`122d058e375274a186c407f28602c3b14a2cab95`)
 which points to it. The current branch and index are not changed.
 
 ### Flags:
-- ```-p my_parent_ref``` is used to provide "parent" refs which become the parents of the created commit.
+- `-p my_parent_ref` is used to provide "parent" refs which become the parents of the created commit.
 If a parent ref is a symbolic ref, *both* the provided ref and the ref it points to are used as parents.
-If not present, defaults to ```-p HEAD```.
-- ```-t ref/lethe/my_target_ref``` is used to provide "target" refs which will be created/updated
+If not present, defaults to `-p HEAD`.
+- `-t ref/lethe/my_target_ref` is used to provide "target" refs which will be created/updated
 to point to the created commit.
-If not present, defaults to adding an entry of the form ```-t refs/lethe/my_branch``` for each
-parent ref of the form ```refs/heads/my_branch```, and ```-t refs/lethe/my/refpath``` for non-head
-refs of the form ```refs/my/refpath```. All provided parent refs *and* any dereferenced parent refs
+If not present, defaults to adding an entry of the form `-t refs/lethe/my_branch` for each
+parent ref of the form `refs/heads/my_branch`, and `-t refs/lethe/my/refpath` for non-head
+refs of the form `refs/my/refpath`. All provided parent refs *and* any dereferenced parent refs
 are used to generate default target refs.
 If any of the target refs already exist, the commits they point to become parents of the created commit.
-- ```-m "my message"``` sets the commit message for the snapshot. By default, "snapshot <current datetime>" is used. 
-- ```-r path/to/repo``` can be provided to specify a repository outside of the current working directory.
+- `-m "my message"` sets the commit message for the snapshot. By default, "snapshot <current datetime>" is used.
+- `-r path/to/repo` can be provided to specify a repository outside of the current working directory.
 
 ```bash
 $ cd path/to/repo
@@ -73,9 +73,9 @@ print('Code (tree) state is ' + tree_sha)
 
 Requirements:
 * python 3 (written and tested with 3.6)
-* git (accessible on the system ```PATH```)
+* git (accessible on the system `PATH`)
 
 Install with pip:
 ```bash
-pip install lethe 
+pip3 install lethe
 ```