Damian got an overall concensus on his thoughts and solutions

Concensus requires much more than any single person...

Starting at page xx, PBP lists over two dozen other people, many of them very well known and highly regarded in the Perl community, whose advice and feedback I sought as I designed and wrote the book. Most of them read the entire book before it was finalized; most of them argued numerous suggestions at length and in great detail; most of them convinced me to change one or more of the guidelines in some substantial way.

What's in the book is the concensus of a large number of very talented and highly experienced people. People like Abigail, chromatic, Paul Fenwick, Uri Guttman, Trey Harris, Steven Lembark, Andy Lester, Jacinta Richardson, Randal Schwartz, and Peter Scott (to name ten at random). Like you, they didn't always agree with every solution I suggested. But they did concede that the issues I raised were genuine problems for many Perl programmers; problems that demanded consideration, discussion, and ultimately the adoption of some standardized and reliable solution.

I encourage you--and everyone else--to criticize and debate the guidelines I've suggested. It is, however, incorrect to imply that those guidelines aren't the result of extensive consultation, collaboration, and collective experience.