diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 111dfc9..2bb44e7 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,8 +1,19 @@
 # bunyan Changelog
 
-## bunyan 0.4.1 (not yet released)
+## bunyan 0.5.0 (not yet released)
+
+- Add `log.info(err)` special case for logging an `Error` instance. For
+  example `log.info(new TypeError("boom")` will produce:
+
+        ...
+        "err": {
+          "message": "boom",
+          "name": "TypeError",
+          "stack": "TypeError: boom\n    at Object.<anonymous> ..."
+        },
+        "msg": "boom",
+        ...
 
-(nothing yet)
 
 ## bunyan 0.4.0
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3de03bf..3190a49 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -34,10 +34,13 @@ format version) are added for you.
 
 The full `log.{trace|debug|...|fatal}(...)` API is:
 
-    log.info();     // returns a boolean: is the "info" level enabled?
-    log.info("hi"); // log a simple string message
-    log.info("hi %s", bob, anotherVar); // uses `util.format` for msg formatting
-    log.info({foo: "bar"}, "hi");       // adds "foo" field to log record
+    log.info();     // Returns a boolean: is the "info" level enabled?
+    log.info(err);  // Log an `Error` instance, adds "err" key with exception details
+                    // (including the stack) and sets "msg" to the exception message.
+                    // A special case, b/c logging errors should be easy.
+    log.info("hi"); // Log a simple string message.
+    log.info("hi %s", bob, anotherVar); // Uses `util.format` for msg formatting.
+    log.info({foo: "bar"}, "hi");       // Adds "foo" field to log record.
 
 
 ## bunyan tool
@@ -293,9 +296,21 @@ follow (feedback from actual users welcome).
 
 Recommended/Best Practice Fields:
 
-- `err`: Object. A caught JS exception. Log that thing with
-  `log.error({err: err}, "oops")` and **use the `Logger.stdSerializers.err`**
-  serializer for it. See "examples/err.js".
+-   `err`: Object. A caught JS exception. Log that thing with `log.info(err)`
+    to get:
+  
+        ...
+        "err": {
+          "message": "boom",
+          "name": "TypeError",
+          "stack": "TypeError: boom\n    at Object.<anonymous> ..."
+        },
+        "msg": "boom",
+        ...
+
+    Or use the `Logger.stdSerializers.err` serializer in your Logger and
+    do this `log.error({err: err}, "oops")`. See "examples/err.js".
+
 - `req_id`: String. A request identifier. Including this field in all logging
   tied to handling a particular request to your server is strongly suggested.
   This allows post analysis of logs to easily collate all related logging
@@ -303,6 +318,7 @@ Recommended/Best Practice Fields:
   and you carry a single request ID from the top API down through all APIs
   (as [node-restify](https://github.com/mcavage/node-restify) facilitates
   with its 'X-Request-Id' header).
+
 - `req`: An HTTP server request. Bunyan provides `Logger.stdSerializers.req`
   to serialize a request with a suggested set of keys. Example:
   
diff --git a/bin/bunyan b/bin/bunyan
index f1c1da2..16de1d6 100755
--- a/bin/bunyan
+++ b/bin/bunyan
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 // See <https://github.com/trentm/node-bunyan>.
 //
 
-var VERSION = "0.4.1";
+var VERSION = "0.5.0";
 
 var util = require('util');
 var pathlib = require('path');
diff --git a/examples/err.js b/examples/err.js
index b9973cc..8a9caae 100644
--- a/examples/err.js
+++ b/examples/err.js
@@ -17,6 +17,15 @@ try {
   log.warn({err: err}, "operation went boom: %s", err)   // <--- here
 }
 
+log.info(new TypeError("how about this?"))  // <--- alternatively this
+
+
+try {
+  throw "boom string";
+} catch (err) {
+  log.error(err)
+}
+
 /*
 
 $ node err.js  | ../bin/bunyan -j
diff --git a/lib/bunyan.js b/lib/bunyan.js
index 0e057bd..02d56e2 100644
--- a/lib/bunyan.js
+++ b/lib/bunyan.js
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
  * Copyright 2012 (c) Trent Mick. All rights reserved.
  */
 
-var VERSION = "0.4.1";
+var VERSION = "0.5.0";
 
 // Bunyan log format version. This becomes the 'v' field on all log records.
 // `0` is until I release a version "1.0.0" of node-bunyan. Thereafter,
@@ -501,6 +501,7 @@ Logger.prototype._emit = function (rec) {
  *
  * Usages:
  *    log.trace()  -> boolean is-trace-enabled
+ *    log.trace(<Error> err)
  *    log.trace(<string> msg, ...)
  *    log.trace(<object> fields, <string> msg, ...)
  *
@@ -515,6 +516,10 @@ Logger.prototype.trace = function () {
     return (this.level <= TRACE);
   } else if (this.level > TRACE) {
     return;
+  } else if (arguments.length === 1 && arguments[0] instanceof Error) {
+    // `log.trace(err)`
+    fields = {err: errSerializer(arguments[0])};
+    msgArgs = [fields.err.message];
   } else if (typeof arguments[0] === 'string') {  // `log.trace(msg, ...)`
     fields = null;
     msgArgs = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments);
@@ -531,6 +536,7 @@ Logger.prototype.trace = function () {
  *
  * Usages:
  *    log.debug()  -> boolean is-debug-enabled
+ *    log.debug(<Error> err)
  *    log.debug(<string> msg, ...)
  *    log.debug(<object> fields, <string> msg, ...)
  *
@@ -545,6 +551,10 @@ Logger.prototype.debug = function () {
     return (this.level <= DEBUG);
   } else if (this.level > DEBUG) {
     return;
+  } else if (arguments.length === 1 && arguments[0] instanceof Error) {
+    // `log.debug(err)`
+    fields = {err: errSerializer(arguments[0])};
+    msgArgs = [fields.err.message];
   } else if (typeof arguments[0] === 'string') {  // `log.debug(msg, ...)`
     fields = null;
     msgArgs = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments);
@@ -561,6 +571,7 @@ Logger.prototype.debug = function () {
  *
  * Usages:
  *    log.info()  -> boolean is-info-enabled
+ *    log.info(<Error> err)
  *    log.info(<string> msg, ...)
  *    log.info(<object> fields, <string> msg, ...)
  *
@@ -575,6 +586,10 @@ Logger.prototype.info = function () {
     return (this.level <= INFO);
   } else if (this.level > INFO) {
     return;
+  } else if (arguments.length === 1 && arguments[0] instanceof Error) {
+    // `log.info(err)`
+    fields = {err: errSerializer(arguments[0])};
+    msgArgs = [fields.err.message];
   } else if (typeof arguments[0] === 'string') {  // `log.info(msg, ...)`
     fields = null;
     msgArgs = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments);
@@ -591,6 +606,7 @@ Logger.prototype.info = function () {
  *
  * Usages:
  *    log.warn()  -> boolean is-warn-enabled
+ *    log.warn(<Error> err)
  *    log.warn(<string> msg, ...)
  *    log.warn(<object> fields, <string> msg, ...)
  *
@@ -605,6 +621,10 @@ Logger.prototype.warn = function () {
     return (this.level <= WARN);
   } else if (this.level > WARN) {
     return;
+  } else if (arguments.length === 1 && arguments[0] instanceof Error) {
+    // `log.warn(err)`
+    fields = {err: errSerializer(arguments[0])};
+    msgArgs = [fields.err.message];
   } else if (typeof arguments[0] === 'string') {  // `log.warn(msg, ...)`
     fields = null;
     msgArgs = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments);
@@ -621,6 +641,7 @@ Logger.prototype.warn = function () {
  *
  * Usages:
  *    log.error()  -> boolean is-error-enabled
+ *    log.error(<Error> err)
  *    log.error(<string> msg, ...)
  *    log.error(<object> fields, <string> msg, ...)
  *
@@ -635,6 +656,10 @@ Logger.prototype.error = function () {
     return (this.level <= ERROR);
   } else if (this.level > ERROR) {
     return;
+  } else if (arguments.length === 1 && arguments[0] instanceof Error) {
+    // `log.error(err)`
+    fields = {err: errSerializer(arguments[0])};
+    msgArgs = [fields.err.message];
   } else if (typeof arguments[0] === 'string') {  // `log.error(msg, ...)`
     fields = null;
     msgArgs = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments);
@@ -651,6 +676,7 @@ Logger.prototype.error = function () {
  *
  * Usages:
  *    log.fatal()  -> boolean is-fatal-enabled
+ *    log.fatal(<Error> err)
  *    log.fatal(<string> msg, ...)
  *    log.fatal(<object> fields, <string> msg, ...)
  *
@@ -665,6 +691,10 @@ Logger.prototype.fatal = function () {
     return (this.level <= FATAL);
   } else if (this.level > FATAL) {
     return;
+  } else if (arguments.length === 1 && arguments[0] instanceof Error) {
+    // `log.fatal(err)`
+    fields = {err: errSerializer(arguments[0])};
+    msgArgs = [fields.err.message];
   } else if (typeof arguments[0] === 'string') {  // `log.fatal(msg, ...)`
     fields = null;
     msgArgs = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments);
@@ -711,7 +741,7 @@ Logger.stdSerializers.res = function res(res) {
 
 // Serialize an Error object
 // (Core error properties are enumerable in node 0.4, not in 0.6).
-Logger.stdSerializers.err = function err(err) {
+var errSerializer = Logger.stdSerializers.err = function err(err) {
   var obj = {
     message: err.message,
     name: err.name,
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index f826387..06eaa6e 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "bunyan",
-  "version": "0.4.1",
+  "version": "0.5.0",
   "description": "a JSON Logger library for node.js servers",
   "main": "./lib/bunyan.js",
   "bin": {