A few days ago, I saved why the lucky stiff‘s Poignant Guide to Ruby as separate PDFs per chapter, and printed it out.
Whether you’re looking for a different programming language manual, or just want to read a motivating, well-written introduction to Ruby, the poignant guide is for you. It is pretty unique in its kind, although The Little Schemer and Casting SPELs in Lisp also sport a similar spirit of playfullness.
Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean the book only covers the basics. Chapter 6 for example, deals with juicy metaprogramming.
If you are interested in the PDFs, just let me know.