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Ruby, From Beginner To Expert
Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional, 2nd Edition (Expert's Voice in Open Source)Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional, 2nd Edition (Expert's Voice in Open Source) by Peter Cooper
Buy new: £17.80 / Used from: £20.08
An excellent all-rounder. If you only want to buy one book to get started, this is the best choice.
Learn to Program: Using Ruby (Facets of Ruby)Learn to Program: Using Ruby (Facets of Ruby) by Chris Pine
Buy new: £11.04 / Used from: £13.74
I would happily recommend this to anyone completely new to programming - it is the best introduction that I've read (for any language).
The Well-Grounded Rubyist: Get the ebook FREE!The Well-Grounded Rubyist: Get the ebook FREE! by David Black
Buy new: £18.19 / Used from: £21.35
Get this book once you've learned the basics of Ruby, and want to go further. It might seem a bit heavy for a beginner, because it is scrupulously thorough.
Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide, Second EditionProgramming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide, Second Edition by Dave Thomas
Buy new: £20.11 / Used from: £6.99
A very useful working reference, but not the best tutorial - make this your second or third Ruby book
Practical Ruby Projects: Ideas for the Eclectic Programmer (Books for Professionals by Professionals)Practical Ruby Projects: Ideas for the Eclectic Programmer (Books for Professionals by Professionals) by Topher Cyll
Buy new: £30.17 / Used from: £1.50
This is a fun way to practice - the author walks you through a set of neat little projects, and manages to fit in some advanced concepts along the way
Simply Rails 2Simply Rails 2 by Patrick Lenz
Buy new: £17.76 / Used from: £19.29
This is a well-regarded and current introduction to Ruby's most popular Web framework. Many Rails books around were actually written for version 1 - buyer beware!
The Pragmatic ProgrammerThe Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew Hunt
Buy new: £15.91 / Used from: £13.01
Every programmer should know this classic book, but the ideas that it teaches have become absolutely pervasive in the Ruby community
Design Patterns in Ruby (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby)Design Patterns in Ruby (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby) by Russ Olsen
Buy new: £21.73 / Used from: £21.00
Get this when you start to develop larger and more complex systems: you will be glad that you did
Ruby Best PracticesRuby Best Practices by Gregory Brown
Buy new: £13.85 / Used from: £14.48
Seems to provide a lot of good advice.
Practical Ruby for System Administration (Expert's Voice in Open Source)Practical Ruby for System Administration (Expert's Voice in Open Source) by A Hamou
Buy new: £33.72 / Used from: £1.50
Short, but absolutely packed with wisdom for Ruby-using administrators
The Ruby Programming LanguageThe Ruby Programming Language by David Flanagan
Buy new: £16.28 / Used from: £15.87
Co-written by the designer of Ruby. Probably worth reading for insights, but not the best book for starting out
The Ruby Way: Solutions and Techniques in Ruby Programming (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby)The Ruby Way: Solutions and Techniques in Ruby Programming (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby) by Hal Fulton
Buy new: £14.49 / Used from: £10.00
A disrecommendation: it was once a very useful resource, but is now so outdated that it can lead you astray