The Hartl book others have mentioned is better than the guides if you need to know what todo not just how to do it (if you are new to web development rather tha

The Hartl book others have mentioned is better than the guides if you need to know what todo not just how to do it (if you are new to web development rather than switching frameworks). I'm also not sure about Railscasts for a beginner, the most suitable ones for a beginner may be pretty out of date now although there are probably a lot of useful ones still there.