Like the other three Holmes novels, this book is a masterpiece. Sure, it is old (over 100 years, in fact) but, being Holmes, it will always be as fresh and exciting as it was the day it was released. Although all the Holmes stories are great, and you will have a good time reading any of them, I reccommend reading the books in chronological order (this can be conveniently done with the omnibus The Complete Sherlock Holmes), it will only serve to make you like the stories even more.

Anyways, this is the second Holmes story, and it is a page-turner, full of suspense. Also, it delivers the kind of intrigue and "how did he know that! " disbelief that only a Sherlock Holmes story can generate. It is because of this, and the stunning detail in which he is described throughout the 60 Holmes stories, that the hardcore readers of the Holmes stories cannont alltogether accept him as fictional. No character in the history of fiction has ever been more real to his readers, and none ever will be. Many Holmes fans have been known to feel remorse, even sadness upon visiting the Rickenback Fall (where Doyle originally tried to kill Holmes). That may sound fanciful, but indulge yourself in the 60 Holmes stories (including this one-one of the best) and see if you fall into that category.

As the second full-length story of Doyle's Holmes series, this book is a classic. It lacks the landmark status of A Study in Scarlet and the overall drama of The Hound of the Baskervilles, but nevertheless is a must-read for all Holmes fans and is strongly recommended to fans of detective fiction. The crime scene is a classic -- "Watson, when you have eliminated all other possibilities, the remaining possibility, no matter how seemingly improbable, is nevertheless likely".... or something like that.

While A Study in Scarlet deals rather unmercifully with the Mormon colony in Utah, A Sign of Four presents what would now be considered a strikingly politically incorrect perspective on India. It's an historically interesting British viewpoint from late in the last century.

Whether you read a public copy or get it from the University of Virginia on-line archive, I strongly recommend A Sign of Four. It's a quick read, and certainly a better option for spare time than Holmes' seven percent solution.

A classic Holmes novel, this book is perhaps one of Sherlock's most puzzling mysteries. As told by Dr. Watson, this mystery may have been one of Holmes's toughest cases yet.

As Sherlock is injecting cocaine into his blood system, he sits down with placid relief, until there is a knock at the door. In enters the beautiful Mary Morstan, whom Watson immediately takes a fancy to. While Watson observes her beauty, Holmes observes her problem. It seems that she is a rather middle-class woman, with style and father in the military, who is currently stationed in India. He had recently wrote to her saying that he would come to visit. However, he never showed up when she went to pick him up. That was ten years ago. But starting six years ago, four years after his disappearance, Miss Morstan had been receiving mysterious packages containing pearls of great value, one a year. Having been contacted by her mysterious complimentor, should she go and meet him? Or should she stay home? The truth lies with in the book.

This book is a triumph for the celebrated novelist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and I believe that many people would enjoy this book. Just to be specific, it would mainly be for people who are in the age group of around: 13 or older, and also those who are fond of the mystery novels and thrillers and anyone who could use a good book.

Capek was a genius and an all-around literateur, succeeding with fairytales, novels, plays, and sketches. He could even draw. (and he liked cats, which endears him to me).

A Czech friend first got me interested in Capek, and made me read WAR OF THE NEWTS, one of his novels, which I adored. WAR OF THE NEWTS is part of this series.

This reader is certainly a good addition to any library, particularly for anyone interested in Capek's work or Czech writing in the Golden Age (the first Republic, before Chamberlain's bargain with Hitler carved up the new state of Czechoslovakia).

However, the translations here do not do Capek justice. While e the translation of the play R.U.R. (a play which introduced the word "robot" to the English language, and which was once more heavily anthologized and taught in America than O'Neill)does include scenes that were cut from the Broadway productions of 1921 and 1945, scenes never before available in Englishl, the translator also takes idiomatic Czech and makes it oddly formal, stilted. "To staci" for example is translated as "That will suffice," which is literally the meaning, but doesn't capture the informality of the phrase. "That's enough" would have been more speakable. If you're a director, use this text only for research but don't give it to your actors-- it will bore an audience, and lacks Capek's humor and zest. And some of the translation, according to native speakers, is simply inaccurate (a word that can mean "scissors" in context was translated as "provisions.") Just as poetry should really only be translated by a poet, plays should really only be translated by playwrights (working with native speakers if necessary). Too much is lost.

Still, the book does put in English, however flawed, much that had been long out of print, and all of it is worth reading.

This book is a compillation of some of the greatest works by the brilliant Czech writer Karel Capek. Here there are some of his best-known plays and a selection of tales which can be found entirely and unabridged in "Crossroads" and "Tales from Two Pockets". The plays included are "RUR" (Rossum's Universal Robots), "The Makropulos Secret", Act II of "The Insect Play" and "The Mother".
"RUR" is a comical though moving to thought play about the limits of technology from a social and moral point of view, and how men playing God can lead humankind to a complete disaster. However, the play has a happy and very funny end.
"The Makropulos Secret" is a sort of Faustian comedy which leads to discussion upon immortality and the final conclusion that it's better to remain mortals because nobody could bear immortality's boredom.
"The Insect Play" (better read it complete) depicts the insects' world as a microcosmos which reproduces human behaviour, greed, powerlust, war, shallowness, every human vice incarnated in insects.
"The Mother" is related to Capek's increasing worry about war and the rising of totalitarianism.

One of the best qualities about Capek, apart from his obvious wit, is that he never moralizes, he takes things from the side of the "ridicule" rather than from a sort of preacher's view. His works are very funny, but no less deep. His sense of humour never conceals the depth of his thought, and humour thus makes things even more serious.

Outside his native Czechoslovakia the author Karel Capek (to be pronounced as: Chah-pek) is not as well known as he would merit. In fact, he is one of the 20th century's greatest authors, with a masterful talent for sharp observation and profound reflexion. This collection - 'Towards the radical center' - contains, inter alia, his two most famous theater plays:
1. 'Rossums Universal Robots', which was written in 1920, introduced the word 'Robot' (Czech for the forced labour of serfs) into practically all modern languages, in the sense of an automaton that without protest performs all the chores humans themselves are loath to do themselves. In his play Capek underlines that the process of creating a class of intelligent servile automatons inevitably leads to cruelty. In the end the robots revolt against human oppression.
2. 'The Makropoulos Affair'. A central theme in this theater play is that of a youth elixir that provides eternal life. It turns out that, in the very long run, this is more a curse than a blessing.

Apart from these two famous plays, the selection contains a number of essays and short stories which, without exception, are very whitty and profound. Every cat lover should read his brilliant one page essay 'From the point of view of a cat'.

In 1936, appalled by the threat of expanding Nazism, Capek elaborated the main theme of 'Rossums Universal Robots' in an even grander way in his novel 'War with the Newts'. This novel - which is not included within this selection but separately available on Amazon - is an anti-utopian ('dystopian') novel at least as unsettling as Orwell's '1984" or Huxley's 'Brave New World'.
Not having read Capek means missing a vital part of 20th century world literature.
Capek died soon after the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia in 1938.

I found this helpful but pretty basic. I had already learned most of the book contents by surfing the net and going to responsible medical sites (e.g., OncologyChannel, Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins, etc). I bought it primarily as a reference to keep on hand as my mother goes through treatment for ovarian cancer. I was able to skip about half the book as it was so elementary, but others may find that information more of a revelation and useful. I do think it will be a helpful reference to have at my fingertips as time progresses.

"...I wish there had been a book like this one to help our family understand what dad was going through and to guide my mother and us children during such a difficult time...Caregiving is a thorough and accessible resource for family members and friends thrust into the confusion, demands, pain, and frustration of coping with cancer." - Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, author Helping Yourself Help Others, Founder, Rosalynn Carter Institute of Georgia Southwestern State University.

THE ONLY BOOK OF ITS KIND FOR THE CANCER CAREGIVER! Includes sections on cancer treatments, managing care, emotional and physical conditions associated with cancer, and living with cancer and cancer treatments. Provides step-by-step instructions on how to deal with situations or conditions that may occur when giving care to a person with cancer. Contains a comprehensive list of resources available to the caregiver that will make his or her job easier.

Swallowdale refers to a story the children and Captain Flint wrote over the winter... this is it, which accounts for the more fantastical elements some of the other reviewers mentioned! (Missee Lee -- pirates in the South China Sea -- is a story in a similar vein.) Great fun although I do slightly prefer the more "realistic" books in the series. But the whole series is great -- I first read Swallows and Amazons at the age of 9 and return to it often.

"It was enough to make anybody happy, just to be afloat and sailing, to see the green shores racing past, to see the bubbling wake slipping away astern, to see all the sails drawing, to hear now and then a gentle, low thrumming in the shrouds, to see the sunlight sparkle in the spray thrown out to leeward by the bows of the little schooner." - Arthur Ransome

Though listed as the third volume in Arthur Ransome's *Swallows and Amazons* series, *Peter Duck* is chronologically the second adventure of this group of four plus two children, taking place in the Winter of 1930/31, a few months after the events narrated in *Swallows and Amazons*.

As its subtitle indicates - "A Treasure Hunt in the Caribbees" - *Peter Duck* is a book of much greater geographical scope than the first volume: instead of merely pretending to be explorers and pirates, the six children, accompanied by the Amazons' uncle, Captain Flint, and a benevolent sea dog, Peter Duck, cross the Atlantic in search of a real treasure really buried by real pirates.

Every single event in the first book seems to be reproduced here, but on a much greater scale: the ships are now full-sized, the lake is drowned in an ocean, the island can no longer be swimmed around, the petty thieves have turned into murdering thugs, and England's summer rains are drenched by a tropical storm.

Even though the plot is more contrived and far-fatched, with the elements playing a rather providential - and therefore improbable - role, the tone is generally more realistic, as the children are no longer shielded from the more dangerous forces at work in the world. They even befriend a young, abused pauper, Bill, whom Ransome, in a Dickensian vein, portrays more lovingly than any of the recurring characters. And quite significantly, instead of referring to such novels as *Robinson Crusoe* or *Treasure Island*, the children (and especially the one I identify with the most, Titty) are now enthralled by Hakluyt's and Columbus's accounts of their voyages.

*Peter Duck* may lack the simplicity and freshness of the first volume, as well as the feeling that nothing serious could happen to the children, but it is a wonderful adventure story which I wish I had read (or been read) as a child. And for those who don't know Jack about sailing, it is also very didactic, containing several explanatory illustrations and footnotes by Captain Nancy herself.

It's the best book i've ever read! Everyone must read it!

he leido 6 capítulos. Es un tema interesante para abordar el estudio de la historia. Para Nietzcshe la historia es indispensable pero hay que saber tener el punto de equilibrio para que sea util para la vida: demasiada historia anquilosa. La tradición tiener un limite de utilidad; el exceso mata la vida y la dinamica de la vida; pero la absoluta carencia imposibilita entender el mundo en el que se vive.

This book is different than Nietzsche's well-known major works. It does not explicitly examine the nature of morality, the master/slave relationship, or related questions. Instead, it questions the relationship of historical knowledge to life in the present. By "present", Nietzsche does not mean some specific century or decade, but rather the present we perpetually find ourselves in as human beings.

Nietzsche asks: given that we always live in such a present, why do we want or need historical knowledge? Animals live without a historical sense: they do not reflect on the past or contemplate their future -- they simply live from moment to moment in the eternal present that humans perpetually avoid. And generally, Nietzsche notes, animals seem happier than human beings: more spontaneous, more cheerful, less given to morbid and resentful states of mind.

Given these differences, should humans abandon the study of history and try to live in the present like animals? No, says Nietzsche, this relation to history is the true source of human uniqueness and achievement. The question is not "Should we study history?" but rather, "What history should we study, and in what amount?" The answer, says Nietzsche, is history that gives us a proper appreciation of life's difficulties and the struggles that have preceded us, but which nonetheless spurs us to creative action in the present. We should never study history for history's sake; rather, we should study it with a view to understanding and surpassing our present.

This is a short, powerful volume, dense with ideas but astoundingly clear.

A great primer on the problems of history and a great introduction to a brilliant mind.

This is a charming picture book with very little substance in terms of telling legends. What little snippets of storyline are included in this book are toned down to a G rating. There is no mention of violence or romance, though there are some sections that describe how the legends influenced readers in the past. These sections on historical influence would seem to be too boring for young readers, which is the audience most of this book is geared for. Other than that, there is little criticism of this book so long as you intend to give it to seven year-olds.

For those entranced by the magical stories of King Arthur, Excalibur, the Sword in the Stone, Lancelot, Guinevere, and the Knights of the Round Table, Kevin Crossley-Holland has written the quintessential book detailing the life and times of this charismatic hero and his court. Beautifully and painstakingly researched, and rich in history, trivia, fun facts, anecdotes, and legend, Mr Crossley-Holland brings medieval England and Camelot to life. Hear the many stories, among them Merlin, The Sword in the Stone, the Lady of the Lake, Sir Mordred, Marie de France, and Morgan le Fay. Learn the ways of the court and castle life, dressing, arms and armor, tournaments and tilting, love, quests and adventures, magic and magicians, troubadours, art, and so much more. His engaging and entertaining text is enhanced by Peter Malone's marvelously vivid artwork, and together these two transport the reader back in time to the enchanting world of chivalrous knights, lovely and fair maidens, and evil villains. Perfect for young lovers of the Arthurian legend, 12 and older, who have begun to ask the hard questions..."Did King Arthur exist? Was there really a court called Camelot? Where exactly was Arthur's kingdom? When did he rule? And what was he like?" Kevin Crossley-Holland gives the definitive answer..."To begin with, we scarcely need to know. When we first meet Arthur, we are caught up in a long dream we hope will never end." The legend lives. Believe and Enjoy!

The World of King Arthur is an outstanding companion book for anyone interested in the Arthurian legends. The beautifully written entries explain the who, what, when and where of the Arthurian world.,(like, the difference between the sword-in-the stone and Excalibur, or what is known of the historical Arthur.) Also, scattered through the book are delightful nuggets like Kiss Me, How to be a Butler, Verb that Carving, In the the Midnight Garden. Translated from original sources they are wonderful windows into the medieval world. The illustrations are rich, inventive and instinctive. An absolutely gorgeous book, a delight to read and to look at, a must for Arthur fans.

I must admit these series of stories took me by surprise. Surprise because my impression of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has been of a detective author. This appears to be written earlier in his career when he was experimenting with supernatural being. Initially I was somewhat disappointed as I it didn't meet my expectations; but nonetheless it is an interesting read.

I love creepy stories. There is something nice about that feeling, the slow tickle at the back of your neck you get when reading well-written horror. Someone, or something, might just be reading over your shoulder. Spooooky.

Horror, like any fiction, is only as good as it's writer. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is just about as good a writer as you are going to find, and "The Supernatural Tales of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle" is one of the best horror books I have read. There is an acknowledged Poe influence in this collection of 16 ghost and mystery stories, but the stories are definitely Doyle. Several of the stories focus on the then-current vogue of Egyptology, including "Lot No. 249" featuring the first "walking Mummy" story. Other gems include "The Leather Funnel," "The Ring of Thoth" and Doyle's first published story, "The Mystery of Sassa Valley."

This slim volume is a treasure-trove of wierd fiction.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote far more than just the Sherlock Holmes series - he wrote a tremendous collection of short stories and novels, with subjects ranging from the occult to science fiction. Some of these stories are better than most of the Holmes stories, and that's saying a lot!

I cannot recommend enough stories such as "The ring of Thoth", with it's amazing mystery of the ages. Doyle's writing does not diminish with time, and can be read by those who simply are looking for something different.

History still matters. It's best lesson is that we really don't know what is going to happen next. My own attempts to contemplate the kind of secret circus stunts that I have observed have always been extralimital to the presses' goals, but Peter F. Drucker's autobiography, ADVENTURES OF A BYSTANDER, one of the best books I've read, shows how thoroughly someone can describe a fantastic range of people, those who would normally protect their privacy so well that hardly anyone would expect to meet them, even in print. In MANAGING IN THE NEXT SOCIETY, my big surprise was discovering that a modern literary hero, "Franz Kafka also invented the safety helmet. He was the great man in factory inspection and workmen's compensation." (p. 33). Trying to find a place in society, when I know so much by and about Kafka that mental evaluators (I have taken some of their tests) are likely to consider me confused, and my history suggests that I am likely to be grandiose if I try to think at all, this book might not help my future, if the future society is one in which health care has become a top priority, "because health care and education together will be 40 percent of the gross national product within twenty years. Already, they're at least a third." (p. 29). Drucker shows that he is still involved in checking business for some sign of a heartbeat. Thinking that there might be a society some day, but we aren't there yet, sums up the way a lot of people exist.

I continue to be shocked by the inability of people to fathom politics. As someone concerned with financing and management, Drucker is free to report awful experiences whenever a union is involved. Sometimes a union represents the power of people to demand money: "In the early 1950s, President Truman sent me to Brazil to persuade the government there that with the new technology, we could wipe out illiteracy in five years at no cost. The Brazilian teachers' union sabotaged it." (p. 31). In the U.S., unions had so much political power that it is possible for Drucker to report, "Let me say that if we had listened to Mr. Eisenhower, who wanted catastrophic health care for everybody, we would have no health care problems. What shut him down, as you may not have heard, was the UAW. In the 1950s, the only benefit the unions could still promise was company-paid health care. . . . So the UAW killed it with help from the American Medical Association. Still, the AMA wasn't that powerful. The UAW was." (p. 35). If the doctors were willing to take whatever they could get from existing plans instead of trying to figure out how to get any money from the government, you ought to be able to figure out how powerful the government was when Eisenhower (who only wanted to cover "everybody who spent more than 10 percent of their taxable income for health expenditures" p. 35) was president, a real general, compared to the administration of the fly-by fighter pilot who makes the big promises now.

Financially, it seems odd to me that this book is proposing "a service waiting to be born: insurance against the risks of foreign-exchange exposure." (p. 20). Anyone who thought that derivatives might accomplish this ought to keep reading until they get a full history of financial services. "But these financial instruments are not designed to provide a service to customers. They are designed to make the trader's speculations more profitable and at the same time less risky--surely a violation of the basic laws of risk and unlikely to work. . . . as a good many traders have already found out." (p. 140). The historical fluctuation is the least part of the beast in the aggregate of currency markets, but Drucker pictures the situation in miniature: "mostly among the world's huge number of middle-size businesses that suddenly find themselves exposed to a chaotic global economy. No business, except an exceptional very big one, can protect itself against this risk by itself. Only aggregation, which subjects the risks to probability, could do so. . . . Making catastrophic currency risk insurable might similarly make obsolete most of the foreign-exchange business of existing institutions, let alone their frantic currency trading and speculation in derivatives." (p. 146). That was written in 1999. A general decline has probably not calmed the waters much since then, but the question of whose money would be capable of keeping the business world afloat might still be rising. There was a time when money itself might be worth something, back in 1724, when Jonathan Swift had to pretend to be M. B. Drapier to complain that coins of brass were not the same as gold and silver. It has been a long time since anyone could live "in a country where the people of all ranks, parties and denominations are convinced to a man, that the utter undoing of themselves and their posterity forever, will be dated from the admission of that execrable coin; that if it once enters, it can no more be confined to a small or moderate quantity, than the plague can be confined to a few families, and that no equivalent can be given by any earthly power, any more than a dead carcass can be recovered to life by a cordial." (October 13, 1724).

Drucker is politically moderate enough to believe "it is socially and morally unforgivable when managers reap huge profits for themselves but fire workers. As societies, we will pay a heavy price for the contempt this generates among middle managers and workers." (p. 150). Drucker still thinks of society as including some workers, but this seems less likely the older I get, and he is way up there, if age means anything.

REVIEW: Drucker tends to write two types of management books. One type is the more practical/"how-to" type of book where he aims directly at improving the effectiveness of managers of all types through their actions. Such books as "Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices" (1974), "Innovation & Entrepreneurship" (1985), "Managing for Results" (1964), and "The Effective Executive" (1967) fall into this category (all of which are still highly relevant). The second type, while still practical, primarily aims at imparting a broader level of understanding of politics, economy, and society (and their trends) to help executives make effective longer-term decisions and shape the future of their organizations. His typical approach in these books is to bring an historical perspective (over decades or even centuries) into understanding the current trends of human activity that are shaping the future. Drucker's "The Age of Discontinuity" (1969), "Managing in a Time of Great Change" (1995), and "Management Challenges for the 21st Century" (1999) are examples of this type. "Managing in the Next Society" (2002) falls into the second category.

The book is actually a collection of articles that Drucker has published from 1996-2001. The basic theme is that it is not the "New Economy" that executives (and all leaders) should be trying to understand it's the "Next Society". The chapters generally touch upon the three major trends that he's identified as shaping the Next Society: the decline of the young population, the decline of manufacturing, and the emergence of the information revolution.

As he did with his very first book "End of Economic Man" in relation to WWII, Drucker is again reminding us that we must first look to understanding society if we wish to understand major historical events/transitions. This thought is summed up best by the title of a chapter about understanding Japan - "It's the Society, Stupid". While that chapter is limited to Japan, I interpreted the book as telling us that we need to understand society in order to understand all major world events and trends. This is especially important after 9/11 when there's a temptation to look at issues through only political, militaristic, or economic lenses.

STRENGTHS: Since the book consists of articles previously published in magazines from 1996-2001, the text is generally concise, interesting, and easy to read. I also loved the way Drucker brings history into some of the chapters (e.g. he covers Luther, Machiavelli, Hamilton, the industrial revolution, slaves, knights, and inventions such as the book, the stirrup, and the longbow).

WEAKNESSES: The downside of a book of articles is that there is a lot of repetition of concepts and phrases and the book is less cohesive and focussed than it could be. However, I didn't find this too serious of a problem. Also, there are no graphics or charts (it's not Drucker's style).

WHO SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: Those executives and leaders (whether in business, politics, or non profits) who are responsible for shaping the future of their organizations.

Well, He is the biggest name in clasical management guru, and he has contributed so much for the management. I don't think he will write a real-whole-book again. So we will savour his thoughts in any way we can. This is the past writings on many places colected into a book. It is still very concise, clear and have great insight as usual. There is nothing breakthrough here, but the vast Drucker's fans still can find a lot of insights to think about.

This book has been around since I was a child. When it was given to me, I found it very easy to read and understand. I don't remember exactly how old I was, probably around 6 or 7... but the text and the pictures helped me to understand the concept of human sexuality as well as made it clear that this is what adults do. During no time while reading this book did I feel compelled to try out anything that was described within. This book is honest, open, and very helpful to a child who wants to know the details without the boring technical terms that go along with sexuality. (Although, this book is technical in its reference to names for body parts) As a parent, I fully intend to buy this for my daughter when she starts asking the famous question, 'Where did I come from?'. I know in reading this with her, she will be getting the honest truth about her origin in words she will understand, in a way that would help any parent discuss this important subject with their child. I HIGHLY recommend this book to any parent struggling with the issue of getting the facts out clearly and comfortably for all those involved.

I don't have children (yet), but when they do, this book will be accessible to them at a very young age. Adults will be tickled by the adorable illustrations (although some may be shockingly more graphic than you may expect)... they are straight-forward and yet non-threatening.

The text is also to-the-point, but more friendly than blunt... just enough information to satisfy young, curious minds without giving information overload. A great book to read before you even have children as it will help to mentally 'pshyche' you up to being able to more freely discuss the topics of sex and reproduction with your children when the subject comes up.

My mother gave me this book when I was about 10 years old. I am now 40 and I still love it. I have 5 children and I am giving them the chance to enjoy this as much as I did. I felt that my questions were answered in a language I could really understand and that I wasn't embarrassed. After I read it as a child, I was able to talk with my mother. She and I had a great talk. After each of my children have read it the same thing has happened. We talk and laugh, but we're not embarrassed. I have 3 boys 16, 12, and 2 and 2 girls 13 and 11. I thoroughly enjoy this book and share it with everyone I know.

The book is very detailed and comprehensive, but it is not easy to read and probably not suitable for beginners. Specifically, it does not provide complete examples with inputs, code, and output. There are also plenty of typos and small errors.

Still, in all fairness, this is a very comprehensive book with lots of topics not covered in other books. Also the paper is of good quality. Probably every advanced user should go through the book to pick up on things other books leave out.

This is a very good Perl book! For beginners, intermediates or even advanced programmers in Perl. The book takes you from the basics to advanced applied Perl programming concepts.
The book manages what many others fail to do: It might be the only Perl book you ever need. If you worked through this book, additional information is readily available on the Internet. This book is comprehensive enough to cover everything you need to know about the Perl language to write large scale 'mission critical' applications.
Admitted, if you already own the O'Reillys 'Learning Perl', 'Perl' and 'Perl Cookbook' this book will not contain many news. However, it is written very well and it is understandable, something I cannot always say about the 'original' Perl books or documentation.
If you do web programming, a logical addition to this book is 'Professional Perl Development' which offers lots of good information on how to design sophisiticated web applications.

This is an excellent, thorough, fairly advanced book.

Until now, I was an o'reilly zealot, clinging to my camel book and my CD bookshelf as the Only True Word.

Finally, here is the first real competitor to that series of books, with a fresh approach to the language that shows that the authors really know what they are doing.

So far, the book has done a great job covering all my industrial-strength perl questions with _examples that work_ and clear, concise explanations of the methods and the context. I find that the examples are really applicable to my professional needs as a contract perl programmer.

There's a great section on object-oriented perl, as well as a good debugging section.

IMHO, This is the best perl book out in a while.