BioSystems 56 (2000) 145 – 146
Book review
www.elsevier.com/locate/biosystems
E7olutionary Computation: The Fossil Record.
David Fogel, IEEE PRESS, 1998, ISBN 0-7803-3481-7
The task of reviewing this book is an interesting one, since it is really two books. First there is the book that describes the genotype or basic infor-mation provided in 31 foundational papers in the discipline. Second there is the book, that describes the phenotype of the discipline, which represents the current expression of this early work as seen through the eyes of Dr David Fogel. This is comprised of 23 short summary articles that place the above articles in their historical context, and discusses their past, present, and future impact on the field.
Beginning first with the genotype papers, Dr Fogel has amassed an authoritative collection of articles from around the world; articles that have, or perhaps should have, shaped the face of evolu-tionary computation. Since in the past my stu-dents and I have labored in order to retrieve some of these papers, it is with great relief to see them in print. In one of my seminars on evolutionary computation I recall a student beaming with pride at retrieving an article by Larry Fogel, one that is included in this collection. The student went on to discuss all of his trials and tribulations in retriev-ing his prize. The presence of this collection makes many of these difficult to find papers easily available for study and contemplation. It leaves us with more time to discuss the ideas that are contained in them.
However, the editorial genius of Dr Fogel has still been able to convey the excitement of discov-ery that the student had. By leaving the articles in
their original published format one has the feel of ‘digging’ up the past, since the no frills presenta-tion associated with many of these papers pro-vides a good feeling for the computational limitations facing these early researchers. For ex-ample, in some of the papers the illustrations are hand drawn while in other papers the computa-tional results must be gleaned from a punched card format.
While keeping the presentations heterogeneous to convey the diversity of sources, a homogeneity of presentation is provided through the commen-tary articles, the phenotype, written by Dr Fogel. This ‘second book’ allows him to maintain this heterogeneity of presentation while keeping a con-sistent perspective about the impact of these works on the field. Unfortunately, some of these papers have had no impact on the field so far but contain ideas that will provide a treasure trove for graduate students looking for new research direc-tions. When I used this text for my most recent seminar on evolutionary computation, one stu-dent latched onto ideas that he has extended and turned into his Ph.D. thesis topic. So, through this book scientists who for one reason or another had little impact on their generation may have a larger legacy to share with the next.
When using the book in the classroom I found that a good way to preserve both the homogeneity and heterogeneity was to have different students present the papers and their commentaries. That way, students who were presenting the original article had to deal with the article in its own context, and it was up to their partner who re-viewed the Fogel commentary to place the paper in the context of current thought. It worked out
Book re6iew 146
well. As such, it was akin to using two different, but well integrated, textbooks for the course.
What is of particular interest to Biosystems readers is that although the book is published through IEEE press, about one-half of the papers are reprinted from biological journals. Most of these papers are in the first three-quarters of the book. They document the process whereby com-putational models for simulating evolution began to evolve within the biological community in a variety of disparate areas. From molecular biol-ogy on the one hand to neuro-physiolbiol-ogy on the other, what binds these perspectives together is a system theoretic perspective which enables these theories to be expressed in computational terms for the first time on fledgling computer systems of the day. While students in my seminar initially chuckled over the primitive computational facili-ties available to the early researchers, they soon got in the spirit and began to appreciate the efforts of these early researchers.
The latter portion of the book looks at early engineering applications of some of the various computational models that emerged from this early period. They include genetic algorithms, evolutionary programming, genetic programming, and evolutionary strategies to name a few. Given the goal of the book to emphasize the biological
roots of evolutionary computation, the origins of which often are not as appreciated by current practitioners, this latter section is by definition less comprehensive than the first. As a result, there are number of seminal papers that are not included here. It is clear to me that this was done by design and not neglect. In other words, Dr Fogel has set about to wet the readers appetite for more and I do not doubt that a follow up volume is in the works. There, I would expect to see more papers on theoretical studies of these approaches; applications to specific areas such as real-valued function optimization, drug design, genetic engi-neering, and hardware design and theories of social evolution as well. However, a second vol-ume will have a tough act to follow since this is an excellent well-organized book, which can be appreciated on a variety of levels. It is an indis-pensable addition to everyone’s bookshelf. A classy vehicle that stands on its own as a tribute to these early visionaries and their ideas.
Robert G. Reynolds 10 February 2000
Department of Computer Science,
Wayne State Uni6ersity,
431 State Hall,
Detroit, MI 48202,
USA
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