Last year I had the opportunity to be a technical reviewer on Rails for .NET Developers by Jeff Cohen and Brian Eng (of Softies of Rails fame). I haven't done a technical review in a long-time and it wasn't half as painful as I remembered. It helped that the book is well written and an enjoyable read. I definitely think this book is the best place to start for a .NET developer who wants to learn Rails. The book isn't a substitute for reading mainstays like Agile Web Dev with Rails or The PickAxe book, but by reading this book first you would be able to pick up the concepts much easier and quicker.
I was also thrilled just to be involved with a pragmatic programmer book, since I am kind of a fanboi, and even ended up with a quote I gave them on the back cover.
A couple weeks ago I also did a quick Alt.Net Podcast (more on the podcast later) with Jeff, Brian, and Mike Moore. It was a good time and I think it turned out nicely.
-James
