You learned Perl your way, so who would I be to call you crazy. Just my compliments to you for not having the need for a book.

There are several categories of people when it comes to learning anything, and learning a programming language is just one thing that can be learned:

• Reading books, magazines and other dead tree material
• Attending courses, lectures, training sessions and conferences
• Reading online/offline documentation and tutorials
• Frequenting online communities
• Installing (Perl) and start "playing" (with scripts and modules)

I think the majority of the monks and other programmers have at least one Perl book.

For me personally it is a combination of all 5 mentioned ways: I am learning Perl from more than one book at the same time, also using the online and offline documentation tutorials and visiting Perl Monks and other online communities. I've got my own personal tutor/mentor and I've attended some courses. And I'm still on my way to become a good programmer... (if ever) :-)

 Does the Camel book, in particular, contain something that is not duplicated in perldoc or the collective knowledge of many questions asked and answered?

Maybe not for you. But I've got both the CD bookshelf (with the Camel and the Llama book and the Cookbook), Learning Perl in 24 hours, and several other books. When I don't understand the explanation of something in one book, I'll take another book and see if the explanation there is different, from another angle, with other examples.

Because you seem to like the flying electrons, you might want to look at the many books that are available online.

Personally, I had quite some difficulty with the difference between lists and arrays (especially why that difference is important). Each of the books has a different approach, other examples. The online doc has yet another approach and fellow monks show more insight. Do I understand it now? I'll see when I'll make my first mistake... Now I've got my sources and I know where to look.