diff --git a/docs/README.md b/docs/README.md
index 6d70f5afff..5222ee5f03 100644
--- a/docs/README.md
+++ b/docs/README.md
@@ -50,8 +50,10 @@ build the documentation with:
 mdbook build
 ```
 
-The rendered contents will be outputted to a new `book/` directory at the root of the repository. You can
-browse the book by opening `book/index.html` in a web browser.
+The rendered contents will be outputted to a new `book/` directory at the root of the repository. Please note that 
+index.html is not built by default, it is created by copying over the file `welcome_and_overview.html` to `index.html`
+during deployment. Thus, when running `mdbook serve` locally the book will initially show a 404 in place of the index
+due to the above. Do not be alarmed!
 
 You can also have mdbook host the docs on a local webserver with hot-reload functionality via: