diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 67a4876..3ae36fa 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG "$ENV{CXXFLAGS} -O0 -Wall -g -ggdb")
 set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE "$ENV{CXXFLAGS} -O3 -Wall")
 
 option(BUILD_TESTS "Build tests" OFF)
+option(BUILD_EXAMPLES "Build examples" ON)
+
 execute_process(COMMAND bash -c "which python3" OUTPUT_VARIABLE PYTHON3_ENV)
 if(NOT "${PYTHON3_ENV}" STREQUAL "")
     string(REPLACE "\n" "" PYTHON3_ENV ""${PYTHON3_ENV})
@@ -70,11 +72,13 @@ include_directories(${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/include)
 aux_source_directory(${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/src LIB_SOURCE)
 add_library(feather STATIC ${LIB_SOURCE})
 
-
-add_executable(example "./example.cpp")
-target_link_libraries(example PRIVATE feather)
-target_link_libraries(example PRIVATE pybind11::module pybind11::lto pybind11::windows_extras pybind11::embed)
-target_link_libraries(example PRIVATE absl::strings)
+if (BUILD_EXAMPLES)
+    add_executable(example "./example.cpp")
+    target_link_libraries(example PRIVATE feather)
+    #target_link_libraries(example PRIVATE pybind11::module pybind11::lto pybind11::windows_extras pybind11::embed)
+    target_link_libraries(example PRIVATE pybind11::embed)
+    target_link_libraries(example PRIVATE absl::strings)
+endif()
 
 pybind11_add_module(pyfeather ${LIB_SOURCE})
 target_link_libraries(pyfeather PRIVATE absl::strings)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 7f31bc2..7b792ef 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ def build_extension(self, ext):
             "-DPYTHON_EXECUTABLE={}".format(sys.executable),
             "-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE={}".format(cfg),  # not used on MSVC, but no harm
             "-DPYTHON_EXECUTABLE={}".format(PYTHON_ENV),
+            "-DBUILD_EXAMPLES=OFF", 
         ]
         build_args = []
         # Adding CMake arguments set as environment variable
diff --git a/test/cpp/CMakeLists.txt b/test/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
index fe3bec1..1a0f1d1 100644
--- a/test/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/test/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ enable_testing()
 
 add_executable(feather_tests test.cpp)
 target_link_libraries(feather_tests PRIVATE feather)
-target_link_libraries(feather_tests PRIVATE pybind11::module pybind11::lto pybind11::windows_extras pybind11::embed)
+#target_link_libraries(feather_tests PRIVATE pybind11::module pybind11::lto pybind11::windows_extras pybind11::embed)
+target_link_libraries(feather_tests PRIVATE pybind11::embed)
 target_link_libraries(feather_tests PRIVATE absl::strings)
 #target_link_libraries(feather_tests PRIVATE ${googletest})
 target_link_libraries(feather_tests