For somebody with only a casual interest in the field, it may not be didactic enough.
morgan & Claypool (Synthesis Lectures on Human Language Technologies, edited by Graeme Hirst, volume 12), 2011, ix+101 pp; paperbound, ISBN 978-1-60845-707-6, $40.00; ebook, ISBN 978-1-60845-708-3, $30.00 or by subscription This short volume gives an introduction and overview of current techniques for learning to rank objects.