So...
"Beginning Rails 3" is supposedly due Sept 2009 http://www.apress.com/book/view/9781430224334 "Rails 3 in Action" is due February 2010 (est.) Rails 3 in Action
... can we assume a beta release of Rails 3 is very close?
Would like to invest in Rails 3 
I woudn't invest on a book that is said to be released before there's even rough estimate of the tool. I never heard about any of the authors of the Apress book.
Also, the Rails 3 in Action is written by Katz and he just happens to be the mastermind behind most of the new rails architeture so there's no reason to buy any other book.
Yeah true.
I guess my question was, if these books are on the horizon, Rails 3 Beta must be close?
Or is it still a loose timeline... like Textmate2 ?
It's still a loose timeline, but it should be available close to the end of this year/beginning of the next.
But this is more guessing than real science.
I woudn’t invest on a book that is said to be released before there’s
even rough estimate of the tool. I never heard about any of the
authors of the Apress book.
Jeffrey Hardy is a Rails contributor. In any case, I welcome any
book project that’s in line with a Rails 3.0 release. Also, it’s very
hard to do so without a beta or release candidate. However, I was
able to port several application to Rails 3.0pre using Ruby 1.9.1 as
a proof of concept and to play with the new Rails goodness. I’ll get
Ruby 1.9.2 preview 1 installed because from my reading Rails 3
will require Ruby 1.8.7 and prefer Ruby 1.9.2.
-Conrad
Ok, thanks for the replies
Looking forward to playing with the Beta!