diff --git a/bookkeeper.cabal b/bookkeeper.cabal
--- a/bookkeeper.cabal
+++ b/bookkeeper.cabal
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 -- see: https://github.com/sol/hpack
 
 name:           bookkeeper
-version:        0.1.1.0
+version:        0.1.2.0
 description:    Please see README.md
 homepage:       http://github.com/turingjump/bookkeeper#readme
 bug-reports:    https://github.com/turingjump/bookkeeper/issues
@@ -38,8 +38,7 @@
   main-is: Readme.lhs
   hs-source-dirs:
       test
-  default-extensions: AutoDeriveTypeable ConstraintKinds DataKinds DefaultSignatures DeriveFunctor DeriveGeneric DeriveFoldable DeriveTraversable FlexibleContexts FlexibleInstances FunctionalDependencies GADTs MultiParamTypeClasses KindSignatures TypeInType OverloadedStrings RankNTypes ScopedTypeVariables TypeApplications TypeFamilies TypeOperators OverloadedLabels MagicHash
-  ghc-options: -Wall -pgmL markdown-unlit
+  ghc-options: -Wall -pgmL markdown-unlit -fno-warn-unused-top-binds
   build-depends:
       base >= 4.9 && < 4.10
     , type-level-sets
diff --git a/src/Bookkeeper/Internal.hs b/src/Bookkeeper/Internal.hs
--- a/src/Bookkeeper/Internal.hs
+++ b/src/Bookkeeper/Internal.hs
@@ -5,11 +5,13 @@
 import GHC.OverloadedLabels
 import GHC.Generics (Generic)
 import qualified Data.Type.Map as Map
-import GHC.TypeLits (Symbol)
+import GHC.TypeLits (Symbol, KnownSymbol)
 import Data.Kind (Type)
 import Data.Type.Map (Map, Mapping((:->)))
 import Data.Coerce
 import Data.Proxy
+import Data.Monoid ((<>))
+import Data.List (intercalate)
 
 import Bookkeeper.Errors
 
@@ -20,6 +22,24 @@
 -- | The internal representation of a Book.
 newtype Book' (a :: [Mapping Symbol Type]) = Book { getBook :: Map a }
 
+instance ShowHelper (Book' a) => Show (Book' a) where
+  show x = "Book {" <> intercalate ", " (go <$> showHelper x) <> "}"
+    where
+      go (k, v) = k <> " = " <> v
+
+class ShowHelper a where
+  showHelper :: a -> [(String, String)]
+
+instance ShowHelper (Book' '[]) where
+  showHelper _ = []
+
+instance ( ShowHelper (Book' xs)
+         , KnownSymbol k
+         , Show v
+         ) => ShowHelper (Book' ((k :=> v) ': xs)) where
+  showHelper (Book (Map.Ext k v rest)) = (show k, show v):showHelper (Book rest)
+
+
 -- | A book with no records. You'll usually want to use this to construct
 -- books.
 emptyBook :: Book '[]
@@ -70,9 +90,8 @@
 
 -- | Sets or updates a field to a value.
 --
--- >>> let julian' = set #likesDoctest True julian
--- >>> get #likesDoctest julian'
--- True
+-- >>> set #likesDoctest True julian
+-- Book {age = 28, likesDoctest = True, name = "Julian K. Arni"}
 set :: forall field val old mid1 mid2 new .
   ( Map.Unionable '[field :=> ChooseFirst val] mid1
   , Mappable ChooseFirst old mid1
@@ -92,9 +111,8 @@
 
 -- | Infix version of 'set'
 --
--- >>> let julian' = julian & #age =: 29
--- >>> get #age julian'
--- 29
+-- >>> julian & #age =: 29
+-- Book {age = 29, name = "Julian K. Arni"}
 (=:) :: forall field val old mid1 mid2 new .
   ( Map.Unionable '[field :=> ChooseFirst val] mid1
   , Mappable ChooseFirst old mid1
@@ -110,9 +128,8 @@
 
 -- | Apply a function to a field.
 --
--- >>> let julian' = julian & modify #name (fmap toUpper)
--- >>> get #name julian'
--- "JULIAN K. ARNI"
+-- >>> julian & modify #name (fmap toUpper)
+-- Book {age = 28, name = "JULIAN K. ARNI"}
 --
 -- If the key does not exist, throws a type error
 -- >>> modify #height (\_ -> 132) julian
@@ -138,9 +155,8 @@
 
 -- | Infix version of 'modify'.
 --
--- >>> let julian' = julian & #name %: fmap toUpper
--- >>> get #name julian'
--- "JULIAN K. ARNI"
+-- >>> julian & #name %: fmap toUpper
+-- Book {age = 28, name = "JULIAN K. ARNI"}
 (%:) :: forall field val val' old mid1 mid2 new .
   ( Map.Unionable '[field :=> ChooseFirst val'] mid1
   , Mappable ChooseFirst old mid1
diff --git a/test/BookkeeperSpec.hs b/test/BookkeeperSpec.hs
--- a/test/BookkeeperSpec.hs
+++ b/test/BookkeeperSpec.hs
@@ -44,6 +44,9 @@
       p' ?: #name `shouldBe` "Julian K. Arni"
       p' ?: #child ?: #name `shouldBe` "JULIAN K. ARNI"
 
+    it "has a decent show instance" $ do
+      show p `shouldBe` "Book {age = 28, name = \"Julian K. Arni\"}"
+
 type Person = Book '[ "name" :=> String , "age" :=> Int]
 
 
diff --git a/test/Doctest.hs b/test/Doctest.hs
--- a/test/Doctest.hs
+++ b/test/Doctest.hs
@@ -3,8 +3,7 @@
 
 -- Runs doctest on all files in "src" dir. Assumes:
 --   (a) You are using hpack
---   (b) The top-level "default-extensions" are the only extensions besides the
---   ones in the files.
+--   (b) The library has a 'default-extensions' section
 
 import System.FilePath.Glob (glob)
 import Test.DocTest (doctest)
@@ -14,14 +13,16 @@
   deriving (Eq, Show, Read)
 
 instance FromJSON Exts where
-  parseJSON (Object v) = Exts <$> v .: "default-extensions"
+  parseJSON (Object v) = do
+    lib <- v .: "library"
+    Exts <$> lib .: "default-extensions"
   parseJSON _ = fail "expecting object"
 
 main :: IO ()
 main = do
   hpack' <- decodeFile "package.yaml"
-  hpack <- case hpack' of
-    Nothing -> return $ Exts []
+  extensions <- case hpack' of
+    Nothing -> return $ Exts mempty
     Just v  -> return v
   files <- glob "src/**/*.hs"
-  doctest $ files ++ fmap ("-X" ++) (getExts hpack)
+  doctest $ files ++ fmap ("-X" ++) (getExts extensions)
diff --git a/test/Readme.lhs b/test/Readme.lhs
--- a/test/Readme.lhs
+++ b/test/Readme.lhs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 of GHC 8 to provide a new take on datatypes and records:
 
 ~~~ {.haskell}
+{-# LANGUAGE DataKinds #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE TypeOperators #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE OverloadedLabels #-}
 import Bookkeeper
@@ -14,6 +15,8 @@
      & #name =: "Jane"
      & #age =: 30
 
+-- >>> jane
+-- Book {age = 30, name = "Jane"}
 -- >>> jane ?: #name
 -- "Jane"
 ~~~