diff --git a/examples/PlanarSLAMExample_easy.cpp b/examples/PlanarSLAMExample_easy.cpp
index 0b1d7db36..f840c443d 100644
--- a/examples/PlanarSLAMExample_easy.cpp
+++ b/examples/PlanarSLAMExample_easy.cpp
@@ -11,8 +11,7 @@
 
 /**
  * @file PlanarSLAMExample.cpp
- * @brief Simple robotics example from tutorial Figure 1.1 (left) by using the
- * pre-built planar SLAM domain
+ * @brief Simple robotics example using the pre-built planar SLAM domain
  * @author Alex Cunningham
  */
 
diff --git a/examples/PlanarSLAMSelfContained_advanced.cpp b/examples/PlanarSLAMSelfContained_advanced.cpp
index 85e8be814..df58e557c 100644
--- a/examples/PlanarSLAMSelfContained_advanced.cpp
+++ b/examples/PlanarSLAMSelfContained_advanced.cpp
@@ -10,9 +10,8 @@
  * -------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 
 /**
- * @file PlanarSLAMSelfContained.cpp
- * @brief Simple robotics example from tutorial Figure 1.1 (left), with all typedefs
- * internal to this script.
+ * @file PlanarSLAMSelfContained_advanced.cpp
+ * @brief Simple robotics example with all typedefs internal to this script.
  * @author Alex Cunningham
  */
 
diff --git a/examples/Pose2SLAMExample_advanced.cpp b/examples/Pose2SLAMExample_advanced.cpp
index f4e1d3a74..2b54b3403 100644
--- a/examples/Pose2SLAMExample_advanced.cpp
+++ b/examples/Pose2SLAMExample_advanced.cpp
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
  * -------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 
 /**
- * @file Pose2SLAMExample.cpp
+ * @file Pose2SLAMExample_advanced.cpp
  * @brief Simple Pose2SLAM Example using
  * pre-built pose2SLAM domain
  * @author Chris Beall
diff --git a/examples/Pose2SLAMExample_easy.cpp b/examples/Pose2SLAMExample_easy.cpp
index 35ee3efcf..97a32014d 100644
--- a/examples/Pose2SLAMExample_easy.cpp
+++ b/examples/Pose2SLAMExample_easy.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,19 @@
+/* ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ * GTSAM Copyright 2010, Georgia Tech Research Corporation,
+ * Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0415
+ * All Rights Reserved
+ * Authors: Frank Dellaert, et al. (see THANKS for the full author list)
+
+ * See LICENSE for the license information
+
+ * -------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
+
 /*
  * Pose2SLAMExample_easy.cpp
  *
+ * A 2D Pose SLAM example using the predefined typedefs in gtsam/slam/pose2SLAM.h
+ *
  *  Created on: Oct 21, 2010
  *      Author: ydjian
  */
diff --git a/examples/Pose2SLAMwSPCG_advanced.cpp b/examples/Pose2SLAMwSPCG_advanced.cpp
index ab2d86951..475dd0b82 100644
--- a/examples/Pose2SLAMwSPCG_advanced.cpp
+++ b/examples/Pose2SLAMwSPCG_advanced.cpp
@@ -10,7 +10,10 @@
  * -------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 
 /*
- * Solve a simple 3 by 3 grid of Pose2 SLAM problem by using advanced SPCG interface
+ * @file Pose2SLAMwSPCG_advanced.cpp
+ * @brief Solve a simple 3 by 3 grid of Pose2 SLAM problem by using advanced SPCG interface
+ * @author Yong Dian
+ * Created October 21, 2010
  */
 
 #include <boost/shared_ptr.hpp>
diff --git a/examples/Pose2SLAMwSPCG_easy.cpp b/examples/Pose2SLAMwSPCG_easy.cpp
index e1de4a024..54345c576 100644
--- a/examples/Pose2SLAMwSPCG_easy.cpp
+++ b/examples/Pose2SLAMwSPCG_easy.cpp
@@ -10,10 +10,12 @@
  * -------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 
 /*
- * Solve a simple 3 by 3 grid of Pose2 SLAM problem by using easy SPCG interface
+ * @file Pose2SLAMwSPCG_easy.cpp
+ * @brief Solve a simple 3 by 3 grid of Pose2 SLAM problem by using easy SPCG interface
+ * @author Yong Dian
+ * Created October 21, 2010
  */
 
-
 #include <boost/shared_ptr.hpp>
 
 #include <gtsam/slam/pose2SLAM.h>
diff --git a/examples/README b/examples/README
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2342bae7b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/README
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+This directory contains a number of exapmples that illustrate the use of GTSAM:
+
+SimpleRotation:  a super-simple example of optimizing a single rotation according to a single prior
+
+2D Pose SLAM 
+============
+Pose2SLAMExample_easy: A 2D Pose SLAM example using the predefined typedefs in gtsam/slam/pose2SLAM.h
+Pose2SLAMExample_advanced: same, but uses an Optimizer object
+Pose2SLAMwSPCG_easy: solve a simple 3 by 3 grid of Pose2 SLAM problem by using easy SPCG interface
+Pose2SLAMwSPCG_advanced: solve a simple 3 by 3 grid of Pose2 SLAM problem by using advanced SPCG interface
+
+Planar SLAM with landmarks
+==========================
+PlanarSLAMExample: simple robotics example using the pre-built planar SLAM domain
+PlanarSLAMSelfContained_advanced: simple robotics example with all typedefs internal to this script.
+
+Visual SLAM
+===========
+The directory vSLAMexample includes 2 simple examples using GTSAM:
+- vSFMexample using visualSLAM in for structure-from-motion (SFM), and
+- vISAMexample using visualSLAM and ISAM for incremental SLAM updates
+See the separate README file there.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/examples/SimpleRotation.cpp b/examples/SimpleRotation.cpp
index 8d7242fd9..1079ca3d0 100644
--- a/examples/SimpleRotation.cpp
+++ b/examples/SimpleRotation.cpp
@@ -13,8 +13,6 @@
  * SimpleRotation.cpp
  *
  * This is a super-simple example of optimizing a single rotation according to a single prior
- * yet it is quite painful (took 1.5 hours to code from scratch) and is overly complex
- * An example like this should be very easy to do, so let's work at it.
  *
  *  Created on: Jul 1, 2010
  *  @Author: Frank Dellaert