Begining Perl for Bioinformatics (2001) James Tisdell
Available from the VCU bookstore (academic campus).
Can be purchased directly from O'Reilly for $39.95.

We'll use this book as the main resource for learning Perl

Bioinformatics (2001) David Mount
Available from the VCU bookstore (academic campus).
Can be purchased directly from Cold Spring Harbor Press for $75.

This book is one of the few texts on Bioinformatics that give adequate descriptions of the workings of the tools used in the field. We'll use it as a resource for most units in the course.