Rating: 
Summary: Buy the camel, but read the llama first
Review: Excellent. I came to this book knowing next to nothing about Perl, and with a few misconceptions to boot (that Perl's syntax is 'write-only', it's primarily a CGI tool, etc.), and now I am not sure that epiphany would cover it. In 12 years of learning and using programming languages, I don't think I have come across anything so enchanting. One of the best parts of the book: the authors. Add Schwartz & Christiansen to Elliotte Rusty Harold, Petzold, and a very few others who are truly effective technical writers. Classic O'Reilly easygoing style, never condescending, and eerily consistent in presenting just the right amount of information on the given topic. Every programmer (even non-Perl ones) should read 'Programming Perl' by Larry Wall. But to learn Perl, and take the first step down a long and magical road, buy this book. I had a few nits, but by the time I finished the book, I had forgotten most of them. As close to 5 stars as I will ever give for a technical book.
Rating: 
Summary: Really Learning Pearl
Review: This was the first book I've 'eaten' about Pearl, and I can say that was very nutritive to my mind fundamentally on those snacks on DBM access or CGI programming flavors. In few words it's for sure a book to be recommended, specially ir you've already a eaten some C or C++. ( I shouldn't write books reviews before have taken my lunch...)
Rating:
Summary: For Twice the Price Go Buy The CD With All 6 Books
Review: If you are serious about learning and using Perl, buy the CD. Go search for it on Amazon- "The Perl CD Bookshelf". Read my review on the CD. Otherwise, this is a solid book for learning Perl. However, some newbies may find it a little too advanced. I would suggest starting with "Perl & Cgi: The Visual Quickstart Guide". It will get you on your feet quickly. Then advance to this book, or the CD, or even both.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book; highly recommended beginner to intermediate
Review: I knew nothing about Perl; this book is well constructed and the author's sense of humor makes a somewhat serious subject, pleasant to read. My next book will be "Programming Perl" by Larry Wall which is heavily quoted in this book. Unless you are already very familiar with Perl you can't go wrong with this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Intro to Perl for Unix hackers only
Review: There are 2 sets of reviewers rating this book. The first set, who compose the majority of reviewers, are experienced Unix programmers who have used sed, awk, grep and the various Unix shells. For those Unix hackers, this book is a great intro to Perl because it covers the basics of the language quickly and efficiently without belaboring the obvious (or I should say, the obvious to experienced Unix users). The second set of reviewers (of which I am one), who have just about universally panned this book, are Windows or Mac users who had no clue what sed, awk and grep were and then attempted to tackle Perl with this book. For those people, this book is a big mistake. When I was searching for a beginning Perl book, I flipped through the llama book and got confused not only by the first chapter, but with several of the succeeding chapters as well. I learned Perl with Laura LeMay's "Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days" which is a much gentler intro to Perl and also covers Perl in Windows and the Mac. Now that I have some Perl and Linux experience, I went back to the bookstore and started flipping through the llama again, and this time I thought, "Hey this book is really good." Learn from my Jekyll and Hyde experience with the llama: if you are trying to learn Perl and you have previous Unix experience, buy the book. If you don't have previous Unix experence, get something else. I hope this explanation clears up why some people gave this book rave reviews while others ripped it.
Rating:
Summary: great book and easy to read
Review: It's a great book for starters of Perl. Recommend to anyone who finds reading "Programming Perl" a little daunting. Once you get started, you can always refer to other materials to fine tune your Perl. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: very readable
Review: This is an excellent introduction to Perl, abundant in explanations and examples. Don't get discouraged by the first chapter: it's hard to read at first, but it's a useful summary after you've read the book.
Rating:
Summary: Starting with perl
Review: This book is perfect if you are just starting with perl. And, about the first chapter, read it fast don't think much... It will be painless. This doesn't mean you don't have to pay atention to other chapters. great book.
Rating: 
Summary: Not an Inro Programming Book. For Unix Gurus Only.
Review: I do not understand the high marks this book gets. It is not an intro programming book. It presumes the reader already has substantial UNIX and programming experience. You will learn little or nothing unless you are already versed sed, awk, shell programming etc. Do you know what "@ARGV" is? There is a crying need for a genuine intro Perl book. Written by somebody who does not present Perl knowledge as an esoteric art but rather one which attempts to communicate information. This is not it.
Rating:
Summary: With O'Reilly, you can't go wrong
Review: I bought this book because I needed to learn PERL for CGI work I was doing. This book gave me a GREAT basis for PERL, and also helped me to decipher other PERL scripts that other people wrote. Modifiying these existing scripts is no problem after learning the basic concepts presented in this book. This book does not go too in depth with every in and out of the PERL language, but its not meant to do that... To sum it up.. if you need to start leaning PERL.. this is a very good book to get.
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