diff --git a/Data/Attoparsec/Char8.hs b/Data/Attoparsec/Char8.hs
--- a/Data/Attoparsec/Char8.hs
+++ b/Data/Attoparsec/Char8.hs
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE FlexibleInstances #-}
+{-# OPTIONS_GHC -fno-warn-orphans #-}
+
 -- |
 -- Module      :  Data.Attoparsec.Char8
 -- Copyright   :  Bryan O'Sullivan 2007-2010
@@ -49,6 +52,7 @@
     , isAlpha_iso8859_15
     , isAlpha_ascii
     , isSpace
+    , isSpace_w8
 
     -- *** Character classes
     , inClass
@@ -85,6 +89,7 @@
 import Data.Attoparsec.FastSet (charClass, memberChar)
 import Data.Attoparsec.Internal (Parser, (<?>))
 import Data.ByteString.Internal (c2w, w2c)
+import Data.String (IsString(..))
 import Data.Word (Word8)
 import Prelude hiding (takeWhile)
 import qualified Data.Attoparsec as A
@@ -92,6 +97,9 @@
 import qualified Data.ByteString as B8
 import qualified Data.ByteString.Char8 as B
 
+instance IsString (Parser B.ByteString) where
+    fromString = I.string . B.pack
+
 -- $encodings
 --
 -- This module is intended for parsing text that is
@@ -188,17 +196,22 @@
 anyChar = satisfy $ const True
 {-# INLINE anyChar #-}
 
--- | Fast predicate for matching a space character.
+-- | Fast predicate for matching ASCII space characters.
 --
 -- /Note/: This predicate only gives correct answers for the ASCII
 -- encoding.  For instance, it does not recognise U+00A0 (non-breaking
 -- space) as a space character, even though it is a valid ISO-8859-15
--- byte.
+-- byte. For a Unicode-aware and only slightly slower predicate,
+-- use 'Data.Char.isSpace'
 isSpace :: Char -> Bool
-isSpace c = c `B.elem` spaces
-    where spaces = B.pack " \n\r\t\v\f"
-          {-# NOINLINE spaces #-}
+isSpace c = (c == ' ') || ('\t' <= c && c <= '\r')
 {-# INLINE isSpace #-}
+
+-- | Fast 'Word8' predicate for matching ASCII space characters.
+isSpace_w8 :: Word8 -> Bool
+isSpace_w8 w = (w == 32) || (9 <= w && w <= 13)
+{-# INLINE isSpace_w8 #-}
+
 
 -- | Parse a space character.
 --
diff --git a/Data/Attoparsec/Internal.hs b/Data/Attoparsec/Internal.hs
--- a/Data/Attoparsec/Internal.hs
+++ b/Data/Attoparsec/Internal.hs
@@ -165,8 +165,14 @@
 {-# INLINE apP #-}
 
 instance Applicative Parser where
-    pure  = returnP
-    (<*>) = apP
+    pure   = returnP
+    (<*>)  = apP
+    
+    -- These definitions are equal to the defaults, but this
+    -- way the optimizer doesn't have to work so hard to figure
+    -- that out.
+    (*>)   = (>>)
+    x <* y = x >>= \a -> y >> return a
 
 instance Alternative Parser where
     empty = failDesc "empty"
@@ -316,7 +322,7 @@
 
 stringTransform :: (B.ByteString -> B.ByteString) -> B.ByteString
                 -> Parser B.ByteString
-stringTransform f s = takeWith (B.length s) ((==s) . f)
+stringTransform f s = takeWith (B.length s) ((==f s) . f)
 {-# INLINE stringTransform #-}
 
 -- | Skip past input for as long as the predicate returns 'True'.
diff --git a/README.markdown b/README.markdown
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.markdown
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# Welcome to attoparsec
+
+attoparsec is a fast Haskell parser combinator library, aimed
+particularly at dealing efficiently with network protocols and
+complicated text/binary file formats.
+
+# Join in!
+
+I'm happy to receive bug reports, fixes, documentation enhancements,
+and other improvements.
+
+Please report bugs via the
+[bitbucket issue tracker](http://bitbucket.org/bos/attoparsec/issues).
+
+Master [Mercurial repository](http://bitbucket.org/bos/attoparsec):
+
+* `hg clone http://bitbucket.org/bos/attoparsec`
+
+There's also a [git mirror](http://github.com/bos/attoparsec):
+
+* `git clone git://github.com/bos/attoparsec.git`
+
+(You can create and contribute changes using either Mercurial or git.)
+
+Authors
+-------
+
+This library is written and maintained by Bryan O'Sullivan,
+<bos@serpentine.com>.
diff --git a/attoparsec.cabal b/attoparsec.cabal
--- a/attoparsec.cabal
+++ b/attoparsec.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:            attoparsec
-version:         0.8.1.1
+version:         0.8.2.0
 license:         BSD3
 license-file:    LICENSE
 category:        Text, Parsing
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
     efficiently with network protocols and complicated text/binary
     file formats.
 extra-source-files:
+    README.markdown
     benchmarks/Makefile
     benchmarks/Tiny.hs
     benchmarks/med.txt.bz2
diff --git a/benchmarks/Tiny.hs b/benchmarks/Tiny.hs
--- a/benchmarks/Tiny.hs
+++ b/benchmarks/Tiny.hs
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
       A.Done _ xs -> print (length xs)
       what        -> print what
  where
-  slow = A.many (A.many1 A.letter <|> A.many1 A.digit)
+  slow = A.many (A.many1 A.letter_ascii <|> A.many1 A.digit)
   fast = A.many (A.takeWhile1 isLetter <|> A.takeWhile1 isDigit)
   isDigit c  = c >= '0' && c <= '9'
   isLetter c = (c >= 'a' && c <= 'z') || (c >= 'A' && c <= 'Z')