NHibernate & Castle ActiveRecord - learn by doing or RTFM?

I'm a complete noob to NHibernate & ActiveRecord.

What would you say is the best way to start using them productively - following the manuals step by step, or progress in small steps by actually usin开发者_运维问答g it and cross the problems as I encounter them?

Getting a book might help you get a solid foundation of concepts faster. Resorting to trial and error programming with NHibernate without understanding the basic stuff can lead to WTF moments, bad performance and subtle errors.

Also remember that ActiveRecord is really a thin layer over NHibernate, 99% of the information on the web about NHibernate applies to ActiveRecord as well.