[asin: 0201419750] There are many great Perl books, but this is probably the best. The book follows the simple style of the Scott Meyers’ “Effective C++”[google] books, full of hints, tips, and bits of language wisdom. And like the Meyers’ books, this isn’t an introductory text — it dives deep into the dark, dank details of the Perl VM.

The most important principle that I’ve taken from the book is that Perl has style, and that style is the key to learning the language. The author improves on the “Effective” books, teaching the fundamentals of good (and bad) Perl; beyond correctness and efficiency — he shows the essence of expressing problems clearly in Perl.

I found “Effective Perl Programming”[google] a bit short, but only because I wanted more. It’s densely packed for such a small book, holding more Perl wisdom than any other text I own. It’s well worth the cover price, and is a text every “Perl Monk”[google] should read.