I recommend the following books to get you started developing with Ruby on Rails 3. Firstly, Ruby on Rails 3 Tutorial: Learn Rails by Example by Michael Hartl. This is a must read for aspiring Rails developers. The tutorial hands-on style makes it a very accessible read. You will be developing Rails code under version control with Git and deploying to Heroku in no time at all! You can also view the tutorial online . Then to gain a deeper understanding of Rails I recommend Rails 3 Way by Obie Fernandez. Another great book that will walk you through step by step how to build a real world application is Agile Web Development with Rails (Pragmatic Programmers) . After finishing these books and you find that you want deeper understanding of Ruby then try Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional by Peter Cooper or The Ruby Way, Second Edition: Solutions and Techniques in Ruby Programming (2nd Edition) by Hal Fulton. If your looking to learn quickly the starting pieces f...