diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 882bd19ce9..7722ada214 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -23,6 +23,17 @@ Provider on Android. Please see the [Security Readme](SECURITY.md).
 [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/grpc/grpc-java.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/grpc/grpc-java)
 [![Coverage Status](https://coveralls.io/repos/grpc/grpc-java/badge.svg?branch=master&service=github)](https://coveralls.io/github/grpc/grpc-java?branch=master)
 
+Getting Started
+---------------
+
+For a guided tour, take a look at the [quick start
+guide](https://grpc.io/docs/quickstart/java.html) or the more explanatory [gRPC
+basics](https://grpc.io/docs/tutorials/basic/java.html).
+
+The [examples](https://github.com/grpc/grpc-java/tree/v1.14.0/examples) and the
+[Android example](https://github.com/grpc/grpc-java/tree/v1.14.0/examples/android)
+are standalone projects that showcase the usage of gRPC.
+
 Download
 --------
 
@@ -53,7 +64,7 @@ compile 'io.grpc:grpc-stub:1.14.0'
 ```
 
 For Android client, use `grpc-okhttp` instead of `grpc-netty-shaded` and
-`grpc-protobuf-lite` or `grpc-protobuf-nano` instead of `grpc-protobuf`:
+`grpc-protobuf-lite` instead of `grpc-protobuf`:
 ```gradle
 compile 'io.grpc:grpc-okhttp:1.14.0'
 compile 'io.grpc:grpc-protobuf-lite:1.14.0'
@@ -66,6 +77,9 @@ http://search.maven.org/#search%7Cga%7C1%7Cg%3A%22io.grpc%22%20AND%20v%3A%221.14
 Development snapshots are available in [Sonatypes's snapshot
 repository](https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/).
 
+Generated Code
+--------------
+
 For protobuf-based codegen, you can put your proto files in the `src/main/proto`
 and `src/test/proto` directories along with an appropriate plugin.
 
@@ -110,7 +124,6 @@ For protobuf-based codegen integrated with the Maven build system, you can use
 For protobuf-based codegen integrated with the Gradle build system, you can use
 [protobuf-gradle-plugin][]:
 ```gradle
-apply plugin: 'java'
 apply plugin: 'com.google.protobuf'
 
 buildscript {
@@ -118,8 +131,6 @@ buildscript {
     mavenCentral()
   }
   dependencies {
-    // ASSUMES GRADLE 2.12 OR HIGHER. Use plugin version 0.7.5 with earlier
-    // gradle versions
     classpath 'com.google.protobuf:protobuf-gradle-plugin:0.8.5'
   }
 }
@@ -143,18 +154,32 @@ protobuf {
 
 [protobuf-gradle-plugin]: https://github.com/google/protobuf-gradle-plugin
 
+API Stability
+-------------
+
+APIs annotated with `@Internal` are for internal use by the gRPC library and
+should not be used by gRPC users. APIs annotated with `@ExperimentalApi` are
+subject to change in future releases, and library code that other projects
+may depend on should not use these APIs.
+
+We recommend using the
+[grpc-java-api-checker](https://github.com/grpc/grpc-java-api-checker)
+(an [Error Prone](https://github.com/google/error-prone) plugin)
+to check for usages of `@ExperimentalApi` and `@Internal` in any library code
+that depends on gRPC. It may also be used to check for `@Internal` usage or 
+unintended `@ExperimentalApi` consumption in non-library code.
+
 How to Build
 ------------
 
 If you are making changes to gRPC-Java, see the [compiling
 instructions](COMPILING.md).
 
-Navigating Around the Source
-----------------------------
+High-level Components
+---------------------
 
-Here's a quick readers' guide to the code to help folks get started. At a high
-level there are three distinct layers to the library: __Stub__, __Channel__ &
-__Transport__.
+At a high level there are three distinct layers to the library: *Stub*,
+*Channel*, and *Transport*.
 
 ### Stub
 
@@ -162,94 +187,28 @@ The Stub layer is what is exposed to most developers and provides type-safe
 bindings to whatever datamodel/IDL/interface you are adapting. gRPC comes with
 a [plugin](https://github.com/google/grpc-java/blob/master/compiler) to the
 protocol-buffers compiler that generates Stub interfaces out of `.proto` files,
-but bindings to other datamodel/IDL should be trivial to add and are welcome.
-
-#### Key Interfaces
-
-[Stream Observer](https://github.com/google/grpc-java/blob/master/stub/src/main/java/io/grpc/stub/StreamObserver.java)
+but bindings to other datamodel/IDL are easy and encouraged.
 
 ### Channel
 
 The Channel layer is an abstraction over Transport handling that is suitable for
 interception/decoration and exposes more behavior to the application than the
 Stub layer. It is intended to be easy for application frameworks to use this
-layer to address cross-cutting concerns such as logging, monitoring, auth etc.
-Flow-control is also exposed at this layer to allow more sophisticated
-applications to interact with it directly.
-
-#### Common
-
-* [Metadata - headers & trailers](https://github.com/google/grpc-java/blob/master/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/Metadata.java)
-* [Status - error code namespace & handling](https://github.com/google/grpc-java/blob/master/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/Status.java)
-
-#### Client
-* [Channel - client side binding](https://github.com/google/grpc-java/blob/master/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/Channel.java)
-* [Client Call](https://github.com/google/grpc-java/blob/master/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/ClientCall.java)
-* [Client Interceptor](https://github.com/google/grpc-java/blob/master/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/ClientInterceptor.java)
-
-#### Server
-* [Server call handler - analog to Channel on server](https://github.com/google/grpc-java/blob/master/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/ServerCallHandler.java)
-* [Server Call](https://github.com/google/grpc-java/blob/master/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/ServerCall.java)
-
+layer to address cross-cutting concerns such as logging, monitoring, auth, etc.
 
 ### Transport
 
 The Transport layer does the heavy lifting of putting and taking bytes off the
 wire. The interfaces to it are abstract just enough to allow plugging in of
-different implementations. Transports are modeled as `Stream` factories. The
-variation in interface between a server Stream and a client Stream exists to
-codify their differing semantics for cancellation and error reporting.
-
-Note the transport layer API is considered internal to gRPC and has weaker API
-guarantees than the core API under package `io.grpc`.
+different implementations. Note the transport layer API is considered internal
+to gRPC and has weaker API guarantees than the core API under package `io.grpc`.
 
 gRPC comes with three Transport implementations:
 
-1. The [Netty-based](https://github.com/google/grpc-java/blob/master/netty)
-   transport is the main transport implementation based on
+1. The Netty-based transport is the main transport implementation based on
    [Netty](http://netty.io). It is for both the client and the server.
-2. The [OkHttp-based](https://github.com/google/grpc-java/blob/master/okhttp)
-   transport is a lightweight transport based on
+2. The OkHttp-based transport is a lightweight transport based on
    [OkHttp](http://square.github.io/okhttp/). It is mainly for use on Android
    and is for client only.
-3. The
-   [inProcess](https://github.com/google/grpc-java/blob/master/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/inprocess)
-   transport is for when a server is in the same process as the client. It is
-   useful for testing.
-
-#### Common
-
-* [Stream](https://github.com/google/grpc-java/blob/master/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/internal/Stream.java)
-* [Stream Listener](https://github.com/google/grpc-java/blob/master/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/internal/StreamListener.java)
-
-#### Client
-
-* [Client Stream](https://github.com/google/grpc-java/blob/master/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/internal/ClientStream.java)
-* [Client Stream Listener](https://github.com/google/grpc-java/blob/master/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/internal/ClientStreamListener.java)
-
-#### Server
-
-* [Server Stream](https://github.com/google/grpc-java/blob/master/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/internal/ServerStream.java)
-* [Server Stream Listener](https://github.com/google/grpc-java/blob/master/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/internal/ServerStreamListener.java)
-
-
-Examples
---------
-
-The [examples](https://github.com/grpc/grpc-java/tree/master/examples)
-and the
-[Android example](https://github.com/grpc/grpc-java/tree/master/examples/android) are standalone projects that
-showcase the usage of gRPC.
-
-Tools
------
-
-APIs annotated with `@Internal` are for internal use by the gRPC library and
-should not be used by gRPC users. APIs annotated with `@ExperimentalApi` are
-subject to change in future releases, and library code that other projects
-may depend on should not use these APIs. We recommend using the
-[grpc-java-api-checker](https://github.com/grpc/grpc-java-api-checker)
-(an [Error Prone](https://github.com/google/error-prone) plugin)
-to check for usages of `@ExperimentalApi` and `@Internal` in any library code
-that depends on gRPC. It may also be used to check for `@Internal` usage or 
-unintended `@ExperimentalApi` consumption in non-library code.
+3. The in-process transport is for when a server is in the same process as the
+   client. It is useful for testing, while also being safe for production use.