After doing something long enough, a person loses his qualifications to judge the value of an introductory-level work.

True for some, but not all of us. For some years I taught my native language to foreigners and had to make decisions on the approbriate textbook. I don't think first year students are more qualified than me, to judge which language textbook is better for them. Of course its no easy job to judge a textbook and I have spent a lot of (mostly unpaid) time in reviewing beginners textbooks. That does not mean, that I am not interested in reviews and opinions by beginners; they are helpful as well. And they helped me to do my job better.

While these kind of information is helpful and interesting a book review is much more than "it worked for me" or "it doesn't work for me" . Believe me or not, but reviewing a book (in a fair way) is pretty hard work. I believe that many of the more advanced Perl Monks are able to review a book like the Llama Book in a fair way, but this won't be done in just a few minutes or an hour, but will take many hours or days.

Hanamaki