diff --git a/ChangeLog.md b/ChangeLog.md
--- a/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/ChangeLog.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+## 0.8.11
+
+* Function to print prettier parse exceptions [#59](https://github.com/snoyberg/yaml/pull/59)
+
 ## 0.8.10
 
 Add the Data.Yaml.Include module
diff --git a/Data/Yaml.hs b/Data/Yaml.hs
--- a/Data/Yaml.hs
+++ b/Data/Yaml.hs
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
     , Object
     , Array
     , ParseException(..)
+    , prettyPrintParseException
     , YamlException (..)
     , YamlMark (..)
       -- * Constructors and accessors
diff --git a/Data/Yaml/Internal.hs b/Data/Yaml/Internal.hs
--- a/Data/Yaml/Internal.hs
+++ b/Data/Yaml/Internal.hs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 module Data.Yaml.Internal
     (
       ParseException(..)
+    , prettyPrintParseException
     , parse
     , decodeHelper
     , decodeHelper_
@@ -52,7 +53,46 @@
                     | NonStringKeyAlias Y.AnchorName Value
                     | CyclicIncludes
     deriving (Show, Typeable)
-instance Exception ParseException
+
+instance Exception ParseException where
+#if MIN_VERSION_base(4, 8, 0)
+  displayException = prettyPrintParseException
+#endif
+
+-- | Alternative to 'show' to display a 'ParseException' on the screen.
+--   Instead of displaying the data constructors applied to their arguments,
+--   a more textual output is returned. For example, instead of printing:
+--
+-- > AesonException "The key \"foo\" was not found"
+--
+--   It looks more pleasant to print:
+--
+-- > Aeson exception: The key "foo" was not found
+--
+-- Since 0.8.11
+prettyPrintParseException :: ParseException -> String
+prettyPrintParseException NonScalarKey = "Non scalar key"
+prettyPrintParseException (UnknownAlias n) =
+  "Unknown alias: " ++ n
+prettyPrintParseException (UnexpectedEvent r e) = unlines
+  [ "Unexpected event:"
+  , "  Received: " ++ maybe "None" show r
+  , "  Expected: " ++ maybe "None" show e
+    ]
+prettyPrintParseException (InvalidYaml mye) =
+  case mye of
+    Just ye -> "Invalid yaml: " ++ show ye
+    _ -> "Invalid yaml"
+prettyPrintParseException (AesonException e) =
+  "Aeson exception: " ++ e
+prettyPrintParseException (OtherParseException e) =
+  "Parse exception: " ++ show e
+prettyPrintParseException (NonStringKeyAlias n v) = unlines
+  [ "Non-string key alias:"
+  , "  Anchor name: " ++ n
+  , "  Value: " ++ show v 
+    ]
+prettyPrintParseException CyclicIncludes = "Cyclic includes"
 
 newtype PErrorT m a = PErrorT { runPErrorT :: m (Either ParseException a) }
 instance Monad m => Functor (PErrorT m) where
diff --git a/exe/yaml2json.hs b/exe/yaml2json.hs
--- a/exe/yaml2json.hs
+++ b/exe/yaml2json.hs
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-{-# LANGUAGE ScopedTypeVariables #-}
-
 import Data.Yaml (decodeFileEither, decodeEither')
 import System.Environment (getArgs)
 import System.Exit
@@ -11,18 +9,18 @@
 helpMessage :: IO ()
 helpMessage = putStrLn "yaml2json FILE\n  use - as FILE to indicate stdin" >> exitFailure
 
+showJSON :: Show a => Either a Value -> IO b
 showJSON ejson =
     case ejson of
        Left err -> print err >> exitFailure
-       Right (res :: Value) -> putStr (encode res) >> exitSuccess
+       Right res -> putStr (encode (res :: Value)) >> exitSuccess
 
 main :: IO ()
 main = do
     args <- getArgs
     case args of
-       [] -> helpMessage
-       (f:a:_)  -> helpMessage
        -- strict getContents will read in all of stdin at once
-       ("-":[]) -> getContents >>= showJSON . decodeEither'
-       (f:[])   -> decodeFileEither f >>= showJSON
+       (["-"]) -> getContents >>= showJSON . decodeEither'
+       ([f])   -> decodeFileEither f >>= showJSON
+       _ -> helpMessage
        
diff --git a/yaml.cabal b/yaml.cabal
--- a/yaml.cabal
+++ b/yaml.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:            yaml
-version:         0.8.10.1
+version:         0.8.11
 license:         BSD3
 license-file:    LICENSE
 author:          Michael Snoyman <michael@snoyman.com>, Anton Ageev <antage@gmail.com>,Kirill Simonov