Sure learn Perl! It's a fun language. I have used Basic, C, and Pascal. Also, the main frame stuff as well

As to books, Look up the O'Reilly Books Learning Perl and Perl Programming. Usually called the Llama and Camel books. You might also look at Simon Cozens Beginning Perl. These three usually make everybody happy! You have to have the Camel book. You can't say you use Perl without it! ;-)

Also, once you get your feet wet, do look around the tutorial section on this site

Good luck and welcome to a fun world! And do ask questions on this site! You will usually get a "civil" reply if you post code and show effort. The questions listed now may look high level but if you search, you will find all levels of questions. Did you get the hint? ;-) The search feature is quite useful for finding answers. But if you need clarification; ask!

Again, I can't say enough about using this site. My knowledge has increased significantly because of it!