Rating: 
Summary: I never use it!
Review: I thought I would use this book, but I rarely do. If you are the kind that appreciates using working examples and fitting them for your own uses, then maybe this book is for you. If you are prone to reinventing the wheel (like myself), you'll need more advanced Perl texts that go over tips and tricks as well as explanations themselves.Many people use the internet to download working examples of Perl applications and scripts, then modify them for their own needs. I think this book was written with these people in mind. I just haven't needed this book -- or if I have needed it, its format and purpose is not one I can get my mind around.
Rating: 
Summary: Essential reference
Review: Presents short code blocks for practical problems. If you've been frustrated by the seemingly irrelvant examples that plague a large number of Perl books (particularly applicable to those of us who work primarily with Win32 systems, by choice or not...), then this book should be a refreshing change. Usually my first stop when presented with an unfamiliar area of Perl.
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Summary: Practical solutions on a professional level
Review: If one knows basic perl, then this book, written by two of the topmost guys in the perl community, adds innumerable practical examples and discussions about them, for solving real world perl programming problems in a professional way. It may show one things perl can do, but which do not occure to everyone who has just learned the syntax and knows programming from less capable languages. It deals with topics from strings through IPC and Web. This book made perl working for several people I know.
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Summary: If you learn by example, this is the book for you.
Review: I had a roommate in college who could learn programming languages by reading the language specifications. He took Advanced Algebra as an elective and blew the curve for the math majors. Corey went after the theory in everything. Once he understood the theory, he could extrapolate the applications. I'm just the opposite. The theory doesn't mean squat to me until I can see a few examples. Give me enough examples, and I can extrapolate the theory. If you're like me, this book is for you. 733 pages containing 334 examples of how to use Perl to solve virtually any programming problem you can think of. And as you examine the solutions to the various problems, you're introduced to successively more and more advanced Perl programming constructs. In short, outstanding book.
Rating: 
Summary: what a great reference
Review: i keep this book close to my keyboard. i'm still learning perl, and everytime i've hit something that i don't know how to do yet i've found an answer in here. the table of contents is really detailed, so you can just find the area you're looking for, skim down, find the exact problem, and flip to the page. you'll have your answer in seconds. pair this with programming perl (which i still use mostly for the great listing of all the built in functions).
Rating:
Summary: A must have for beginners and Experts
Review: I missed the examples 'chapter' when the 2nd edition of Programming Perl was released, and this certainly is an expanded and worthwhile. The book is not precisely a reference, but it acts as a reference, when you have a problem and dont know how to solve it in Perl, the cookbook is always a sure bet. One thing, be wary of syntax: there are multiple places in which syntax is incorrect in the book, perhaps because of typos (better testing and editing of the code presented would be suggested in any new printings). All said The Cookbook is a wonderful edition to the Camel book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Addition to your library
Review: It was amazing to find the things I could do in Perl after reading this book. Very nicely presented and lots of examples with actual lines of code in this book. A definite must-have for any serious Perl programmer.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing overview of all tough programming questions
Review: This is a must-have for the aspiring Perl programmer. I already owned Learning Perl and Programming Perl, and this book provided a very welcome addition to them. The 'recipes' are exquisitely explained, and the book answers many (and I do mean many) of the questions you may ever have (for example, how to get a random line from a file without loading the file first). Like the other O'reilly books, this work is written in a humorous way, and laid out simple and effective. If you're planning to do _anything_ in Perl, this book will be a great time-saver.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Reference Manual
Review: Although not a typical perl language reference manual, this book goes further and shows you how to solve many solutions to common tasks. It will not teach you the language but it will take you a step above almost any level. I've been using it for over a year and it's still the most common perl reference guide I use. The problems it describes are ones I face extremelly often and instead of trying to figure them out myself I can simply look them up in this book and it will explain them thoroughly with lots of sample code. My only complaints are that it has some errors in the sample code which require some modifying and it relies too much on modules. Personally I like knowing the bare code instead of relying too much on modules but it's a minor note.
Rating:
Summary: Incredibly useful, as a reference or for learning Perl!
Review: I started skimming the book to find out more about certain subjects and ended up reading it from end to end. Well written and brimming with real-world code, this is THE book to read - after Programming Perl of course.
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