Rating: 

If the book was a free download, then I would expect to have to deal with the confusing layout and inconsistencies. However, this is a book I paid good money for and I feel cheated that such a slip-shod book made it to the shelves.

First and foremost, 'Up and Running' doesn't even follow it's own typographic conventions as outlined in the preface. Commands "that should be typed literally by the reader" should be in constant width bold. For examples of where this convention wasn't followed, see pages 21, 37, 38, 39, 46, 51, 55, etc. Not only does this make it difficult to follow along, the text blends in with the rest of the page, bringing me to my next complaint.

The book bounces around between the current project and sidebar examples. Not a big deal, but there is no distinction between what is 'good to know' info, and what is supposed to followed for the project.

Examples of code change without warning, and the change is not just the new code addition.

Migration files are referred to by the wrong names. For instance, 001_create_photos.rb is correctly identified, but create_slide.rb is not.

Figures are mislabeled too. 3-4 has a table labeled categories-photos when the text tells you it should be categories_photos.

The files available from this website sometimes don't match what the book says. See the 001_create_photos.rb migration in chapter 2 versus the text supplied in src-start-chapter-3. Yes, I realize they are different chapters, but nothing is changed in the book. Why is it different in the file?

Then there's the 'missing' SQL statements mentioned by another reviewer. Yeah, they are there, but they are included in the src-start-chapter-4 files, NOT the chapter 3 where you actually need them.

I could go on, but I have already wasted more time on this than I care to admit.

Maybe with another revision and a complete reformatting of the layout, this book could be the accelerated tutorial it should be. Until then, it is almost frustrating enough to drive people away from Ruby all together.

Can I get my money back?