I have the same first two questions as you, so I'm glad you asked. I can say a large part of me starting developing with Rails is the community. Many, many pub

I have the same first two questions as you, so I'm glad you asked. I can say a large part of me starting developing with Rails is the community. Many, many publishers have books. When I was in school our library had more material on Ruby/Rails than anything else in web dev. The online community is also fantastic as you've noted. Example: someone has taken the time to make ASCIIcasts out of Railscasts is incredible...and very helpful, as I'd often rather read than watch.