Victor Reyes wrote:
> I have a dozen or so Ruby books, although I am still trying to learn the
> language.
> Programming Ruby and The Ruby Way are among the one I use the most. Lately,
> however, I am making use of *Teach Yourself* *Ruby in 21 Days. *This book
> gives you exercises at the end of each chapter.
> I make extensive use of the forum by posting my questions and monitoring
> others Q&A.
> 
> On Jan 4, 2008 7:20 PM, Bjn Arild MëÍand <bjorn.maeland / gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> On Jan 5, 1:02am, Evan Haveman <evanhave... / gmail.com> wrote:
>>> [Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]
>>>
>>>>> I have about 5 years of work experience in programming websites, and
>>>>> would like to learn Ruby. I would like to learn Ruby first, and then
>>>>> will eventually go on to learning Rails.
>>>>> Which book would you recommend on buying & reading?
>>> coming from a similar background, i really enjoyed "the ruby way"
>>>
>>> http://www.amazon.com/Ruby-Way-Second-Addison-Wesley-Professional/dp/
>>> 0672328844/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199491338&sr=8-1
>> I would recommend "The Ruby Way" as well. I think it will suit you
>> better than "Programming Ruby".
>>
>>
> 

As far as I'm concerned, for an *experienced* programmer who wants to
learn Ruby, there is only one book -- the Pickaxe aka _Programming
Ruby_. The others are all good/great in their own way, but the Pickaxe
is the definitive reference manual (in English, anyhow) on the language.

Going on to Rails is another thing entirely. _Agile Web Development with
Rails_ is probably the best place to start, but for Rails, I personally
think you're *much* better off with live classroom training than trying
to pick it up from a book or bunch of books.