I might sound like a fanboy, but having just finished Design Patterns in Ruby by Russ Olsen, I would be remiss if I were to not say how awesome this book is. I didn’t know what the GoF design patterns were, but this book gave a an awesome introduction to over half of the original patterns, and a couple that are Ruby specific. When you read Design Patterns in Ruby and Eloquent Ruby, you feel like Russ is a teacher, and you are having a conversation with him. The subtle humor and the stories of his youth remind me a lot of some of my high school teachers. The information inside is both clear and concise, with plenty of code examples. Having read the two (books) in the order that I did, I can see the ideas explained in Eloquent Ruby formulating in the author’s head in Design Patterns. I would suggest these books to anyone who wants to get started in Ruby and already has a firm base with programming, as they are not beginner’s books.