Customer comments on this selection.
 Make sure you buy Simply Rails 2 Instead
First off, this book is really easy to follow and the subject matter varied enough throughout the book for it not to become a bore. (Although the sections on writing testing can be a bit of a drag, there's probably no way to get around that.)
That said, some of the techniques taught in this book are not up-to-date. They work, but they don't follow the current best practices, such as writing REST-ful apps. (I didn't even know what this was when I made the purchase, but found out about it just as the book arrived.) Also, this book is written for Rails 1.0, not Rails 2.0, so if you want to develop with Rails 2, there will be some hiccups along the way. Rails 2, doesn't really use .rjs files anymore (although they still work). Also the name of certain methods/objects have changed. For example instead of using votes_count, you should use votes.count.
When I purchased the book, Simply Rails 2 was on the verge of being released, unbeknown to me, I wish I had known about the updated edition and purchased it instead.
 This book is only a tutorial
This book is only a tutorial. If you want a tutorial there are some good tutorials on the web for free, but a tutorial only gives you a feel for how a framework is used. A full understanding of the Rails framework will require a book that also can function as a reference. After completing the tutorial you are not, of course, enabled to build a website of your own unless it looks exactly like the website in the tutorial.
Doesn't work with latest version of rails
Halfway through the book you start noticing that much of the example code no longer works. With a little research, you'll find out that Ruby on Rails no longers supports some of the features that the book relies on. While there are corrections online, the corrections don't address the upgrade to Version 2.0 or better.
I wouldn't buy this book but rather would buy the more up to date version by the same author and save myself the headache.
 Easiest Way I Know To Get On Track Learning Ruby On Rails
I do not have the time, inclination, or capabilities to match the quality and detail of the reviews that already sing the praises of this book, though I know more people find longer reviews useful than short ones. But, I wanted to
a) add my praise for this really well-written book, that makes it easy to get started,
b) handles the concepts of OOP and Ruby etc. just in enough detail to help people get the most out of the technology being described, and
c) does a great job of handling the code in just the right bite-sized snippets that you can read the book lounging in a chair (or being lazy like me, reading it in bed).
I cannot really say more than the great reviews already said, but had to respond to a brief review that criticized the book for not starting real development until Chapter 5.
The irony is that that is exactly where I am in the full methodical reading of this book as I write this review (I have browsed it earlier) and I think the four chapters leading up to the actual work did a great job explaining programming, OOP, Ruby, Rails, frameworks, agile development, databases and schemas, and what not.
So, can the book be better? Of course. Am I happy I bought it? Delighted.
Perhaps getting a little long in the tooth now...
My background is computer science and I've been working with PHP/MySQL for a few years now. I sought out this book as an introductory text to RoR and, well, it was sufficient.
The chapters about OOP basics are kind of pointless in my opinion although it's a noble effort. If you're that new to programming, you should really start somewhere else. A good litmus test is whether you know that the first element in an array has an index of zero and not one. If you understand a fundamedtal concept like that, you're good to go. If that's all gibberish, I'd recommend Head First Java to get started.
Rails 2.0 is out. The errata mentions that breakpointers are deprecated but fails to mention that Patrick's method of scaffolding no longer works either. If you're using InstantRails it includes phpMyAdmin, which seems favorable to MySQL Query browser to me. Also, for me InstantRails came preconfigured for SQLite, so while he mentions you should take a look at your database.yml file, you will actually need to edit it if you plan to use MySQL as the book does.
All in all, it's still a great book and I got a lot out of it.
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