diff --git a/features/steps/httparty_steps.rb b/features/steps/httparty_steps.rb
index e0aea39..88a5956 100644
--- a/features/steps/httparty_steps.rb
+++ b/features/steps/httparty_steps.rb
@@ -2,6 +2,14 @@ When /^I set my HTTParty timeout option to (\d+)$/ do |timeout|
   @request_options[:timeout] = timeout.to_i
 end
 
+When /^I set my HTTParty open_timeout option to (\d+)$/ do |timeout|
+  @request_options[:open_timeout] = timeout.to_i
+end
+
+When /^I set my HTTParty read_timeout option to (\d+)$/ do |timeout|
+  @request_options[:read_timeout] = timeout.to_i
+end
+
 When /I call HTTParty#get with '(.*)'$/ do |url|
   begin
     @response_from_httparty = HTTParty.get("http://#{@host_and_port}#{url}", @request_options)
diff --git a/features/supports_read_timeout_option.feature b/features/supports_read_timeout_option.feature
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..58b9d37
--- /dev/null
+++ b/features/supports_read_timeout_option.feature
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+Feature: Supports the read timeout option
+  In order to handle inappropriately slow response times
+  As a developer
+  I want my request to raise an exception after my specified read_timeout as elapsed
+
+  Scenario: A long running response
+    Given a remote service that returns '<h1>Some HTML</h1>'
+    And that service is accessed at the path '/long_running_service.html'
+    And that service takes 2 seconds to generate a response
+    When I set my HTTParty read_timeout option to 1
+    And I call HTTParty#get with '/long_running_service.html'
+    Then it should raise a Timeout::Error exception
+    And I wait for the server to recover
diff --git a/lib/httparty.rb b/lib/httparty.rb
index 04344b7..b96789b 100644
--- a/lib/httparty.rb
+++ b/lib/httparty.rb
@@ -176,6 +176,28 @@ module HTTParty
       default_options[:timeout] = t
     end
 
+    # Allows setting a default open_timeout for all HTTP calls in seconds
+    #
+    #   class Foo
+    #     include HTTParty
+    #     open_timeout 10
+    #   end
+    def open_timeout(t)
+	    raise ArgumentError, 'open_timeout must be an integer or float' unless t && (t.is_a?(Integer) || t.is_a?(Float))
+	    default_options[:open_timeout] = t
+    end
+
+    # Allows setting a default read_timeout for all HTTP calls in seconds
+    #
+    #   class Foo
+    #     include HTTParty
+    #     read_timeout 10
+    #   end
+    def read_timeout(t)
+      raise ArgumentError, 'read_timeout must be an integer or float' unless t && (t.is_a?(Integer) || t.is_a?(Float))
+      default_options[:read_timeout] = t
+    end
+
     # Set an output stream for debugging, defaults to $stderr.
     # The output stream is passed on to Net::HTTP#set_debug_output.
     #
diff --git a/lib/httparty/connection_adapter.rb b/lib/httparty/connection_adapter.rb
index 617d941..e13bb09 100644
--- a/lib/httparty/connection_adapter.rb
+++ b/lib/httparty/connection_adapter.rb
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ module HTTParty
   # HTTParty::ConnectionAdapter#connection for examples of how they are used.
   # Something are probably interesting are as follows:
   # * :+timeout+: timeout in seconds
+  # * :+open_timeout+: http connection open_timeout in seconds, overrides timeout if set
+  # * :+read_timeout+: http connection read_timeout in seconds, overrides timeout if set
   # * :+debug_output+: see HTTParty::ClassMethods.debug_output.
   # * :+pem+: contains pem data. see HTTParty::ClassMethods.pem.
   # * :+ssl_ca_file+: see HTTParty::ClassMethods.ssl_ca_file.
@@ -81,6 +83,14 @@ module HTTParty
         http.read_timeout = options[:timeout]
       end
 
+      if options[:read_timeout] && (options[:read_timeout].is_a?(Integer) || options[:read_timeout].is_a?(Float))
+        http.read_timeout = options[:read_timeout]
+      end
+
+      if options[:open_timeout] && (options[:open_timeout].is_a?(Integer) || options[:open_timeout].is_a?(Float))
+        http.open_timeout = options[:open_timeout]
+      end
+
       if options[:debug_output]
         http.set_debug_output(options[:debug_output])
       end
diff --git a/spec/httparty/connection_adapter_spec.rb b/spec/httparty/connection_adapter_spec.rb
index 12650d3..12b147a 100644
--- a/spec/httparty/connection_adapter_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/httparty/connection_adapter_spec.rb
@@ -153,6 +153,62 @@ describe HTTParty::ConnectionAdapter do
         end
       end
 
+      context "when timeout is not set and read_timeout is set to 6 seconds" do
+        let(:options) { {:read_timeout => 6} }
+
+        its(:read_timeout) { should == 6 }
+
+        it "should not set the open_timeout" do
+          http = mock("http", :null_object => true)
+          http.should_not_receive(:open_timeout=)
+          Net::HTTP.stub(:new => http)
+          adapter.connection
+        end
+      end
+
+      context "when timeout is set and read_timeout is set to 6 seconds" do
+        let(:options) { {:timeout => 5, :read_timeout => 6} }
+
+        its(:open_timeout) { should == 5 }
+        its(:read_timeout) { should == 6 }
+
+        it "should override the timeout option" do
+          http = mock("http", :null_object => true)
+          http.should_receive(:open_timeout=)
+          http.should_receive(:read_timeout=).twice
+          Net::HTTP.stub(:new => http)
+          adapter.connection
+        end
+      end
+
+      context "when timeout is not set and open_timeout is set to 7 seconds" do
+        let(:options) { {:open_timeout => 7} }
+
+        its(:open_timeout) { should == 7 }
+
+        it "should not set the read_timeout" do
+          http = mock("http", :null_object => true)
+          http.should_not_receive(:read_timeout=)
+          Net::HTTP.stub(:new => http)
+          adapter.connection
+        end
+      end
+
+      context "when timeout is set and open_timeout is set to 7 seconds" do
+        let(:options) { {:timeout => 5, :open_timeout => 7} }
+
+        its(:open_timeout) { should == 7 }
+        its(:read_timeout) { should == 5 }
+
+        it "should override the timeout option" do
+          http = mock("http", :null_object => true)
+          http.should_receive(:open_timeout=).twice
+          http.should_receive(:read_timeout=)
+          Net::HTTP.stub(:new => http)
+          adapter.connection
+        end
+      end
+
       context "when debug_output" do
         let(:http) { Net::HTTP.new(uri) }
         before do