Book By Its Cover

I stopped by B&N while Christmas shopping with my family to see what’s on shelf for Ruby and Rails. It appears that every books are there except for one that I think is the best and the most important book, Ruby for Rails by David Black. I was somewhat stunned and saddened by this because I think it is the most definitive guide to Ruby and Rails.
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Here are some of my initial thoughts as why this book wasn’t on the shelf:

  • It’s all sold out and they can’t keep it in stock. Although I highly doubt this since I saw a post where David is explaining the book is titled “Ruby for Rails” and not AWDR.
  • People don’t understand that you need to learn Ruby to be effective Rails programmer.
  • It has the ugliest cover I’ve ever seen.
  • David Black is not loved. Considering how he’s contributing to Ruby community, I just don’t see how this is possible.

The conclusion I came to is that even though the book has the best content, it’s the cover that sells the book. I’m not sure what Manning is thinking, but they should really consider revising the cover. If you ever come across this book, buy it. I can’t think of any other book that covers Rails in details like this one.

December 19, 2007 | Filed Under Rant, Review

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