Six months ago, when I decided to try and learn Perl (with not much programming experience) I purchased Sams Teach Yourself Perl in 24 Hours. It was a great introduction for an idiot like me. I found it very easy going, and the explanations were great. Since then I've puchased the Camel book, Professional Perl Development, and Data Munging with Perl. Now, six months later, I find I have no real need for SAMS TYPI24H. However, I have fond memories and it was very useful to me when I started out, I've kept it very clean, and I'm gonna pass it on to a good friend of mine who has expressed an interest in Perl (a compliment to any book in my opinion). It might have taken more than 24 hours for me to get through it, but it was worthwhile all the same.
(But to be completely honest, if I was to do it all again, I would start with purchasing Learning Perl, then Programming Perl, and my third purchase would be Data Munging with Perl, in that order!)

Plato