I agree that O'Reilly is the best way to go as well. The other cool thing you could do is check out Safari. For $10 bucks a month you can subscribe to 5 online O'Reilly books.
Even though I own both the Camel and the Llama I find myself using Safari more just because I can search. heh
Thats about $60 for 6 months, and $120 for one year. So you
have spent $120 in one year and the only thing left,
is the information your brain can remember.
I believe Safari is the wrong thing for a beginner.
$10/month for five books seems to be cheap, but in the long run you
better buy the books you will need during the next years.
So if you don't care to read your books on the screen, $63.96
for The Perl CD Bookshelf: Version 2.0 will
be a much wiser investment.
That does not mean Safari is useless and a too expensive service.
Actually Safari is a great
service for Programmers. Some books you read just once,
and its not necessary to buy them. If your a lucky you
can get these books from your local library; if not Safari
will be the service you need.