Alarik,
I found the best way to go is simply dive in and get it done.
I've personally done a lot with PHP, which I found relatively easy to learn coming from a Basic/Delphi background. For database, I used Postgresql and at one point I had set up a rather complex database with browser front-end for managing customer information. Don't ask me to do it again though, it was rather time-consuming. The concept works and I like it a lot. It gives you ultimate power over your website.
One thing though: if you're using Dreamweaver to work on stuff like PHP or Perl, be prepared for some frustration. The previews are all messed up because Dreamweaver will not evaluate the code, so always test it on a local server.
My current website (
http://www.redgeographics.com , shameless plug) uses a combination of HTML with PHP. I develop it locally, using Dreamweaver. For testing, I'm running a local apache server. Since I have hardly any experience in setting that up, I got a standard package from
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/
Not sure on which books to look at, because I hardly use them myself. There's some excellent online docs for PHP available, I assume it'll be the same for Perl. You can always try your local library.