Ah, I thought it must be.  I just ordered it.  Now I know it's nickname.  
But,  why "Pickaxe?"

On Tuesday 29 May 2001 20:11, you wrote:
> In article <01052919094202.00967 / linux>,
>
> Albert Wagner  <alwagner / tcac.net> wrote:
> >What is everyone calling the "Pickaxe" book?
> >
> >On Tuesday 29 May 2001 12:41, Phil Tomson wrote:
> >> I don't know if its just my imagination or if my news server has just
> >> been working better lately, but it seems to me that traffic on
> >> comp.lang.ruby has increased significantly in the last two weeks.  This
> >> is good.
> >>
> >> What is causing this latest uptick in traffic?  Was it the review of the
> >> Pickaxe book a few weeks back on Slashdot?  Any speculation?
>
> Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide
> by Dave Thomas and Andrew Hunt