To create an enterprise web application some years ago you only needed to read some data from a database and generate some HTML pages using a script. Ok, this may be a little bit over-simplified, but I've actually seen applications that worked this way.
This is no longer possible, because things became way more complex. Today web developers do not only have to know about HTML, CSS, and Javascript. They also have to deal with XML, XSL, relational databases, object-relational mappers, AJAX, web services, security, network protocols, SEO, and so on.
The complexity of web development has enormously increased over the last decade and even if we're not responsible for every part of a web application we still should at least know the basics of every part involved. This is exactly what Maik does: He explains how to integrate with technologies such as XML, JSON, relational databases, LDAP, SOAP, asynchronous messaging, REST, and so on. Additionally, he shows how to implement security infrastructures, how to automate tests, and how to create documentation. Although written in a practical recipes style, the author always shows how everything fits together.
With his first book ("Enterprise Integration with Ruby") Maik already showed that he's an outstanding talent. He explains complex things in a way that everybody can understand. In addition, he does not only tell you how something works and how you can use it. He also explains everything you need to know about a certain solution.
With "Enterprise Recipes with Ruby and Rails" he succeeds again and shares another piece of his large background in developing enterprise software in a well written language.
This book is a must-have for every Ruby and Rails Developer who builds enterprise applications or applications in an enterprise environment.