I'm just reading my copy (so my opinion may change later on) but it seems like a worthy replacement for the first edition and well worth the wait. I'm not sure, however, that it's really suitable for a beginner. It explains CGI and HTTP at a beginner level, but it assumes quite a knowledge of Perl.

--
<http://www.dave.org.uk>

European Perl Conference - Sept 22/24 2000, ICA, London
<http://www.yapc.org/Europe/>