Xah Lee, 2005-09
The official documentation for Python is http://docs.python.org/. The quality of the official python documenation is very low, in many aspects. For detail, see On Python's Documentation.
General history and overview: Python (programming language).
A excellent quick reference sheet is available at rgruet.free.fr, by Richard Gruet. Highly recommended.
The official documentation for Perl is at: http://perldoc.perl.org/
General history and overview: Perl.
A survey of Perl books and culture: Pathetically Elational Regex Language.