diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f696370..8af9068 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -76,6 +76,17 @@ FOO: bar
 BAR: baz
 ```
 
+as a final aside, if you don't want godotenv munging your env you can just get a map back instead
+
+```go
+var myEnv map[string]string
+myEnv, err := godotenv.Read()
+
+s3Bucket := myEnv["S3_BUCKET"]
+```
+
+end
+
 ## Contributing
 
 Contributions are most welcome! The parser itself is pretty stupidly naive and I wouldn't be surprised if it breaks with edge cases.
diff --git a/godotenv.go b/godotenv.go
index f89ec30..a421053 100644
--- a/godotenv.go
+++ b/godotenv.go
@@ -34,9 +34,7 @@ import (
 	It's important to note that it WILL NOT OVERRIDE an env variable that already exists - consider the .env file to set dev vars or sensible defaults
 */
 func Load(filenames ...string) (err error) {
-	if len(filenames) == 0 {
-		filenames = []string{".env"}
-	}
+	filenames = filenamesOrDefault(filenames)
 
 	for _, filename := range filenames {
 		err = loadFile(filename)
@@ -47,12 +45,55 @@ func Load(filenames ...string) (err error) {
 	return
 }
 
+func Read(filenames ...string) (envMap map[string]string, err error) {
+	filenames = filenamesOrDefault(filenames)
+	envMap = make(map[string]string)
+
+	for _, filename := range filenames {
+		individualEnvMap, individualErr := readFile(filename)
+
+		if individualErr != nil {
+			err = individualErr
+			return // return early on a spazout
+		}
+
+		for key, value := range individualEnvMap {
+			envMap[key] = value
+		}
+	}
+
+	return
+}
+
+func filenamesOrDefault(filenames []string) []string {
+	if len(filenames) == 0 {
+		return []string{".env"}
+	} else {
+		return filenames
+	}
+}
+
 func loadFile(filename string) (err error) {
+	envMap, err := readFile(filename)
+	if err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+
+	for key, value := range envMap {
+		os.Setenv(key, value)
+	}
+
+	return
+}
+
+func readFile(filename string) (envMap map[string]string, err error) {
 	content, err := ioutil.ReadFile(filename)
 	if err != nil {
 		return
 	}
 
+	envMap = make(map[string]string)
+
 	lines := strings.Split(string(content), "\n")
 
 	for _, fullLine := range lines {
@@ -60,11 +101,10 @@ func loadFile(filename string) (err error) {
 			key, value, err := parseLine(fullLine)
 
 			if err == nil && os.Getenv(key) == "" {
-				os.Setenv(key, value)
+				envMap[key] = value
 			}
 		}
 	}
-
 	return
 }
 
diff --git a/godotenv_test.go b/godotenv_test.go
index e6ec8d9..381be3e 100644
--- a/godotenv_test.go
+++ b/godotenv_test.go
@@ -44,6 +44,32 @@ func TestLoadFileNotFound(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestReadPlainEnv(t *testing.T) {
+	envFileName := "fixtures/plain.env"
+	expectedValues := map[string]string{
+		"OPTION_A": "1",
+		"OPTION_B": "2",
+		"OPTION_C": "3",
+		"OPTION_D": "4",
+		"OPTION_E": "5",
+	}
+
+	envMap, err := Read(envFileName)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Error("Error reading file")
+	}
+
+	if len(envMap) != len(expectedValues) {
+		t.Error("Didn't get the right size map back")
+	}
+
+	for key, value := range expectedValues {
+		if envMap[key] != value {
+			t.Error("Read got one of the keys wrong")
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func TestLoadPlainEnv(t *testing.T) {
 	envFileName := "fixtures/plain.env"
 	expectedValues := map[string]string{