diff -r f091b6581d21 -r bcae8cb61002 whois/__init__.py
--- a/whois/__init__.py	Wed Dec 20 18:15:24 2017 +0000
+++ b/whois/__init__.py	Tue Jan 23 17:51:04 2018 -0500
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
     if command:
         # try native whois command
         r = subprocess.Popen(['whois', domain], stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
-        text = r.stdout.read()
+        text = r.stdout.read().decode()
     else:
         # try builtin client
         nic_client = NICClient()