Modern Perl is great. It's also updated every year or two, which shows that Perl 5 keeps evolving (a good thing) and that features are both added and removed from the language in almost every point release (see also: no fixed specification).
I haven't read Beginning Perl, but I did buy a copy of the 4th edition (2012) of the Camel Book recently. The difference to the 3rd edition (2000), i.e. between idiomatic Perl 5.6 and 5.14, is enormous. If there is ever a 5th edition, it will no doubt be as big a change from 5.14 -- who knows, maybe it will feel like Perl 6 at this rate.
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