diff --git a/docs/python-api.rst b/docs/python-api.rst
index fb060b4..9ae6646 100644
--- a/docs/python-api.rst
+++ b/docs/python-api.rst
@@ -190,9 +190,16 @@ You can add a new column to a table using the ``.add_column(col_name, col_type)`
 
 .. code-block:: python
 
+    db["dogs"].add_column("instagram", str)
+    db["dogs"].add_column("weight", float)
     db["dogs"].add_column("dob", datetime.date)
+    db["dogs"].add_column("image", "BLOB")
 
-You can pass any of the following Python types as the second argument - ``sqlite-utils`` will create the column using the appropriate SQLite type from this list::
+You can specify the ``col_type`` argument either using a SQLite type as a string, or by directly passing a Python type e.g. ``str`` or ``float``.
+
+SQLite types you can specify are ``"TEXT"``, ``"INTEGER"``, ``"FLOAT"`` or ``"BLOB"``.
+
+If you pass a Python type, it will be mapped to SQLite types as shown here::
 
     float: "FLOAT"
     int: "INTEGER"
diff --git a/sqlite_utils/db.py b/sqlite_utils/db.py
index 7576141..c1bbd74 100644
--- a/sqlite_utils/db.py
+++ b/sqlite_utils/db.py
@@ -30,6 +30,15 @@ COLUMN_TYPE_MAPPING = {
     datetime.date: "TEXT",
     datetime.time: "TEXT",
     None.__class__: "TEXT",
+    # SQLite explicit types
+    "TEXT": "TEXT",
+    "INTEGER": "INTEGER",
+    "FLOAT": "FLOAT",
+    "BLOB": "BLOB",
+    "text": "TEXT",
+    "integer": "INTEGER",
+    "float": "FLOAT",
+    "blob": "BLOB",
 }
 # If numpy is available, add more types
 if np:
diff --git a/tests/test_create.py b/tests/test_create.py
index ddc45e5..aae4817 100644
--- a/tests/test_create.py
+++ b/tests/test_create.py
@@ -130,6 +130,14 @@ def test_create_table_works_for_m2m_with_only_foreign_keys(fresh_db):
         ("dob", datetime.date, "CREATE TABLE [dogs] ( [name] TEXT , [dob] TEXT)"),
         ("age", int, "CREATE TABLE [dogs] ( [name] TEXT , [age] INTEGER)"),
         ("weight", float, "CREATE TABLE [dogs] ( [name] TEXT , [weight] FLOAT)"),
+        ("text", "TEXT", "CREATE TABLE [dogs] ( [name] TEXT , [text] TEXT)"),
+        (
+            "integer",
+            "INTEGER",
+            "CREATE TABLE [dogs] ( [name] TEXT , [integer] INTEGER)",
+        ),
+        ("float", "FLOAT", "CREATE TABLE [dogs] ( [name] TEXT , [float] FLOAT)"),
+        ("blob", "blob", "CREATE TABLE [dogs] ( [name] TEXT , [blob] BLOB)"),
     ),
 )
 def test_add_column(fresh_db, col_name, col_type, expected_schema):