I'm reading a book called Beginning Perl and it suggests using perlbrew because you can switch between different versions if needed and even test your code on different versions of perl.

You don't need perlbrew to install two different versions of perl and to switch between them -- perlbrew is just a middleman, and if it isn't helping you, cut it out :)

Also, if you want actual help , you need provide more information

A single random message about some unknown makefile is not enough details... installing perl involves at least 100 makefiles