Re: Greetings all, new kid here :-)

I am reading "Swarm Intelligence" by James Kennedy and Russell Eberhart
and I think this is one of the best textbooks I have ever read.  If
textbooks can rock, this book *rawks*. If you're interested in learning
about artificial life, genetic algorithms, or agent-based computation, I
suggest reading this book for an introduction.

The authors cover the bottom-up vs. top-down debate clearly and simply,
and they give a good overview of what's been going on in artificial life
research.  I'm an intermediate-skilled programmer with an undergraduate
degree in economics, and so far, I have been able to follow all the math
and pseudocode discussed.  The book seems to have been written with
interested outsiders in mind.