
Nils
I'd agree that this book is an excellent and intellectually satisfying read, and I approve of the idea of reviewing books a few years after their publication - that helps people discover things that might be new to them once the initial marketing/PR push by the publishers stops.
I'm less interested in the fan-belt side of things (although I found that interesting in the book) and more into the mathematics. Through Dyson's work I found out about Nils Aall Barricelli. This eccentric and independently wealthy scientist working on the cusp of biology and mathematics managed to wander unscathed through a world war and was able to get time on the Princeton computer to run his 'digital life' experiments. This chap was close to cellular automata but probably lacked the mathematical tools to explore those. He was also working before the RNA/DNA transcription process was known. Amazing.
More on the link below...
http://nautil.us/issue/14/mutation/meet-the-father-of-digital-life
Coat: sunny day: off out.