The authors argument is "You can do this with another tool so tool X is a bad idea." I disagree. The language behind testing is important. When you test code, the language is code; when you test domain, the language is natural language. My advice to teams who can't use cucumber for doing domain testing is to approximate the same thing in rspec, even though its not the best/optimal tool for it. Gherkin (not just cucumber) is NOT just about wrapping rspec tests with a non-technical syntax.
Also, as contrived as his examples are, he still managed to illustrate exactly the problem inherent in most of the cukes i've ever seen: they're about clicking buttons and navigating a browser. That's not domain. (To be fair, the cucumber team didn't do themselves any favors there by adding the web_steps.rb to their installation process way back when—its long gone now but the legacy lives on.)
Also, as contrived as his examples are, he still managed to illustrate exactly the problem inherent in most of the cukes i've ever seen: they're about clicking buttons and navigating a browser. That's not domain. (To be fair, the cucumber team didn't do themselves any favors there by adding the web_steps.rb to their installation process way back when—its long gone now but the legacy lives on.)