There are certainly enough examples out there that will get you up and running with Rails and will at the very least allow you to make an appropriate assessment

There are certainly enough examples out there that will get you up and running with Rails and will at the very least allow you to make an appropriate assessment as to whether it will improve your development productivity. If you're at the point where you're thinking of buying the book my assumption is that you're already passed the point of assessing Rails and are looking to understand the more advanced functionality. If you're at that point, $26 is nothing.