Congrats Curt. Question though, why is a quick start guide selling for $30
? I tried to see chapter listings on the page but couldn't find.
Is there something more in this book then in the the quick starts
already out on the web ?
I can answer that.
My book, "Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful Technologist", is 309
pages and sells for $42.50, because lots of people perceive that its info
will save them way more than $42.50 in a few months. Now let's look at Curt's
book:
The press release quotes Curt thusly:
"However, if they want the shortest, easiest way to jumpstart their knowledge
of Ruby on Rails, this book will save them a lot of time."
If that's true, this book is worth a lot more than $30.00.
I need to rewrite all of Troubleshooters.Com's business processes, in Rails,
so that my wife and/or daughter can run the business when I'm out of town.
Rails is a huge, broad, and not always easy topic, and if Curt's book can
help me quickly understand Rails' big picture and get me started designing
and coding my new business processes, it's worth many multiples of $30.00.
I already have "Agile Web Development with Rails", which is worth waaayyyy
more than its purchase price, and has helped me immensely. However, for the
short term I'd like a less comprehensive book with a shorter learning curve.
As far as why it's better than existing web quickstarts, I can compare it to
my Ruby tutorial at
http://www.troubleshooters.cxm/codecorn/ruby/rails/rapidlearning_rails.htm.
My tutorial is great -- for something that was written in 2 days. There are
better web tutorials out there than mine, but I believe most are one man
efforts, probably done with time gleaned from a technologist's free time, not
done as a full time effort.
I bet Curt spent 2 to 9 months writing and helping produce his book. His book
has been independently tech-edited and grammer edited. It's been layed out
professionaly. O'Reilly probably gave him guidelines on style and what to
include, what to leave out, based on O'Reilly's long and intimate knowledge
of what technologists like.
I haven't read Curt's book, so I can't comment on its quality. All I can say
is that if it lives up to its goal of quickly getting someone up to speed on
Rails, and that person has an economic motivation to learn Rails, Curt's book
is worth considerably more than $30.00.
When I saw the press release a few days ago, I was excited and put it on my
list of possible books to buy.
SteveT
Steve Litt
Author:
* Universal Troubleshooting Process courseware
* Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful Technologist
* Manager's Guide to Technical Troubleshooting
* Twenty Eight Tales of Troubleshooting
* Rapid Learning: Secret Weapon of the Successful Technologist
http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore
http://www.troubleshooters.com/utp/tcourses.htm
