In all honesty, read through _why's (poignant) guide to ruby first to understand the basics of Ruby and read some cool comics along the way.<p>Once you're happy you've got a good footing in Ruby (will only take an afternoon+evening to read and try the examples) you can go for one of the many "Rails" books that are likely to be recommended here.<p><a href="http://mislav.uniqpath.com/poignant-guide/" rel="nofollow">http://mislav.uniqpath.com/poignant-guide/</a><p>Crunchy Bacon!