diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4c2b0cf..e702e78 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,2 +1,7 @@
-build:
-	cd docs && make html
\ No newline at end of file
+.PHONY: build
+build: html
+
+# this pattern rule lets you run "make build" (or any other target
+# in docs/Makefile) in this directory as though you were in docs/
+%:
+	cd docs && make $@