Rails 3 in a Nutshell, Cody Fauser, O’Reilly, 2010
A concise introduction to Rails, an overview of commands and configurations, and a guide to the parts of Rails you’ll be using every day. Read the book-in-progress online here. Sorry, it’s not yet at OPL.
The Ruby Way, 2nd ed. / Hal Fulton, Addison-Wesley, 2007
A cookbook of 400 topics, with lots of example code. 800 pages.
Ruby on Rails for Dummies / by Barry Burd, Wiley, 2007
A chatty, very approachable book. 300 pages.
Enterprise recipes with Ruby and Rails / Maik Schmidt, Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2008
You will have noticed that I like the Pragmatic series. From the contents: Implement enterprise-wide security — Process e-commerce payments — Get the most out of databases — Tame file and data formats — Process XML documents the Ruby way — Perform basic netwrkign tasks with ease — Use and build web services — Talk to message brokers — Speak foreign languages — Maintain and administer your applications — Test the easy way — Get documentation nearly for free.
Ruby Cookbook / Lucas Carlson, O’Reilly, 2006
This book is useful when you have mastered the basics of Ruby and you want to write some programs. It will help you avoid reinventing the wheel. Recommended by Matz, 850 pages.
Agile web development with Rails : a Pragmatic guide / Dave Thomas, Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2006
This book is not ‘recent’ but it is the best Rails book in the library. It is very readable and practical, with many examples. 500 pages.
Ruby by Example : concepts and code / by Kevin C. Baird, No Starch Press, 2007
300 pages.
Beginning Ruby on Rails / Steven Holzner, Wiley, 2007
An introductory book. Well written, 350 pages.
Ruby on Rails : Up and Running / Bruce A. Tate, O’Reilly, 2006
This concise introduction to Rails for experienced developers is excellent though dated. 150 pages.