I recently bought my copy of Rails Recipes off Amazon and have been digesting its contents ever since. So far – I’m well impressed.

From the very beginning it had those differences so inherent in Pragmatic Books. Those mini innovations like the non-crease spine, the friendly narrative, etc.

Well in this new Rails book they seem to have used Tags & Thumb Tabs. Simply put its a way that enables you to find other related recipes in the book by looking along the books edge and seeing the greyed ‘tabs’ on the same level that correspond to the subject. I’ve not made myself very clear, just trust me – its a snazzy idea and it put me in a good mood for the rest of the book.

The contents themselves seem to have been well integrated considering the vast number of contributers this is a pretty extraordinary feat. You don’t simply get code examples and a short description here like in many other recipe books. You get a full Problem, Solution and Discussion format giving a clean and thorough run through of a wide range of interesting Rails tweaks.

I’d say the book is far more than a recipe book that helps you solve an issue, or help you with a recipe. It deepens your understanding of Rails as a whole and its a pretty good companion to the existing Rails book [Please Note: The 2nd Edition of Agile Web Development with Rails is due for release soon so hold off buying the 1st Ed.] Its another one of the Pragmatic books I keep close at hand all the time along with AWDR, Pragmatic Programmer, and Pickaxe.

Highly Recommended.