Ruby on Rails 3 Tutorial Book Question

Im following the PDF version of this book and keep having an issue with different versions of gems being compatible. I had to skip the TDD section all together because I couldnt get a compatible version of rspec installed. Im now having the same problem with downloading a compatible version of blueprint-css. I dont want to have to skip anymore content. Is there an easier way to get all the correct versions of your gems? Im a React dev and very new to Rails so im unsure of how to navigate. Please advise!!