Learning Haskell and FP

[i r thomas]

>I have read "The Craft of Functional Programming" by Simon Thompson and a
>few paper on the web.  "The Craft" is a good book, but it is an=
 introduction
>to FP.
>It seems to me it there are a lot of books on OO design I can pick up at=
 the
>bookstore, but in the FP world, one must worm their way through all sorts=
 of
>papers.  I have seen papers on Catamorphisms, Monads, Programming with
>Barbed Wire, folds, etc.  I think these papers are hard to understand if=
 you
>don't have the acadademic/mathematical background -- being papers and not
>textbooks these papers assume a fair bit of base knowledge.

I agree with this completely.
The CFP book is a good introduction.
Unforunately, the " Gentle Introduction To Haskell" that haskell.org links=
 to is not a very useful introduction.
I am getting  more out of  Rex Paige's Two Dozen Short Lessons in Haskell.=
 ( I am studying Haskell and C# on my own in my spare time as break from my=
 medical practice ).