
Ask HN: Looking for a Book on Cellular Automata - thirstysusrando
I&#x27;m self-studying cellular automata and I&#x27;d love if there were any sitebooks or torrentable textbooks.
======
mjfl
Surprised no one has said "A New Kind of Science" by Stephen Wolfram. While
not quite a new kind of science, it is all about cellular automata.

[http://www.wolframscience.com/nksonline/toc.html](http://www.wolframscience.com/nksonline/toc.html)

~~~
wool_gather
ANKOS was in fact mentioned already, a couple of hours ago:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11982034](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11982034)

------
rahiel
Chapters 11 & 12 of the free textbook "Introduction to the Modeling and
Analysis of Complex Systems" [1] are on cellular automata. The "Complex
Systems" journal has many papers on CA. [2] (I've just finished a project
where we implemented a random number generator using a cellular automaton,
might be nice to see. [3])

[1]: [http://textbooks.opensuny.org/introduction-to-the-
modeling-a...](http://textbooks.opensuny.org/introduction-to-the-modeling-and-
analysis-of-complex-systems/)

[2]: [http://www.complex-systems.com/archives.html](http://www.complex-
systems.com/archives.html)

[3]: [https://sunsistemo.github.io/mozzacella-automato-
salad](https://sunsistemo.github.io/mozzacella-automato-salad)

------
pacaro
While not just about this, The Computational Beauty of Nature [1] is worth
checking out.

[1] [https://www.amazon.com/Computational-Beauty-Nature-
Explorati...](https://www.amazon.com/Computational-Beauty-Nature-Explorations-
Adaptation/dp/0262561271)

~~~
qubex
This is my all-time favourite book! Reading it way back in the day is what
convinced me that studying Applied Mathematics & Computer Science was my path
in life. Absolutely incomparable, I loved it mainly because it's a grand tour
of everything that is amazing _and_ the author doesn't shy away from code,
formulae, and background (OGY Control, eigenvalues & eigenvectors!) necessary
to really grasp the concepts and implement them.

------
teraflop
I believe it's out of print now, but if you can find it, check out "The
Recursive Universe" by William Poundstone. It centers around Conway's Game of
Life, but every other chapter branches out to draw connections with other
topics, like biology, information theory, and thermodynamics.

~~~
jlarocco
Dover started republishing it a few years ago and it's even available on
Kindle.

Definitely a fun read and worth the $10 and the couple evenings it takes to
read.

------
azeirah
Not sure about books entirely about cellular automata, but Stephen Wolfram's
"a new kind of science" has a LOT on cellular automata.

Also check out his papers if you're interested in them

~~~
wool_gather
I'd strongly suggest not reading ANKOS until you already know what Cellular
Automata are and how they work.

First because Wolfram is not actually very good at explaining things: he's a
very smart guy, but very smart guys don't necessarily know how to lay new
concepts out so that other people can grasp them. Second, a MAJOR problem with
the book is that he does not admit any sources outside himself: the inventor
of CA, John von Neumann, is _never mentioned in the main text_.

You come away understanding only what Wolfram thinks is important, which has a
lot more to do with him than with the subject. It's a book worth reading, but
it's not an introduction.

(I won't even get into his tortured writing style, for which he actually had
to include a little apologia in the introduction.)

~~~
siddboots
I feel the need to voice some moderation in response to this response.

ANKOS is sometimes painful to read for Wolfram's incessant self-aggrandising,
and it is also frustratingly unstructured in parts. Nonetheless, many of the
digressions are thought provoking in ways that you won't really find in _any_
other book. Further, it is mostly non-technical and informal, so it can serve
well as a very broad introduction to some of the curious corners of cellular
automata research.

~~~
wool_gather
>it can serve well as a very broad introduction to some of the curious corners
of cellular automata research.

This is true. It's a substantial book, well worth reading despite its flaws.
The thrust of my post was that it should not be the _first_ thing you read in
order to begin learning about CA.

~~~
dnautics
Forget reading, the first thing you should do is write your own version of
"the game of life", which I did as part of my CS class in 8th grade. Just be
careful, youtube might suggest you do it in APL, don't do it in APL.

------
schip666
This is a kinda good theoretical intro:
[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cellular-
automata/](http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cellular-automata/) and search
the Santa Fe Institute's site too:
[http://www.santafe.edu/search/results/?query=cellular+automa...](http://www.santafe.edu/search/results/?query=cellular+automata)

------
saltvedt
This is a good introduction: [http://natureofcode.com/book/chapter-7-cellular-
automata/](http://natureofcode.com/book/chapter-7-cellular-automata/)

~~~
shash7
Love this book!

It is especially good for beginners.

------
syats
My favorite one is, by far, "Cellular Automata: A Discrete Universe" by Andrew
Ilachinski (2001). It goes deep into the juicy details and has only a limited
amount of hand waving. You can probably find it in the local math/physics
department library, or in the usual internet sources ;)

There are also some articles from Wolfram that make good introductions. Mostly
those from the old days in which "I" wouldn't be the subject of every second
of his sentences. In particular:

Universality and Complexity in Cellular Automata Physica D: Nonlinear
Phenomena 10, no. 1–2 (1984): 1–35

Computation Theory of Cellular Automata Communications in Mathematical Physics
96, no. 1 (1984): 15–57

------
ehudla
A basic introduction, as well as suggested readings, can be found in the book
Biological Computation, which I co-authored
[http://t.co/JzWrcnSzB3](http://t.co/JzWrcnSzB3)

I am especially fond/proud of the detailed explanations of the proofs of
computational universality of CA.

~~~
ehudla
Here's what we had to say about books mentioned in this thread:

Schiff, J.L. 2008. Cellular Automata: A Discrete View of the World.John Wiley
& Sons. A readable introduction to cellular automata and their applications.

Wolfram, S. 2002. A New Kind of Science. Wolfram Media. A very ambitious book
trying to demonstrate in detail (the book contains 1,197 pages) that the
entire universe around us (e.g., biological, physical, and computational
phenomena) could be and should be considered as cellular automata. While the
approach of the author is a matter of heated discussion, the book is
thoughtprovoking and contains many interesting examples.

Ilachinski, A. 2001. Cellular Automata: A Discrete Universe. World Scientific
Publishing. A detailed (approximately 800-page) and technical exposition of
cellular automata. Includes detailed discussions of various theoretical
techniques for studying cellular automata behavior. The proof of the
universality of Life is presented in detail. Among the topics covered are
probabilistic CA, the relationship between CA and physics models, and a
comparison between CA and neural networks.

------
abecedarius
[https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/cellular-automata-
machines](https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/cellular-automata-machines)

The greater part as I remember it is on ideas and applications; a substantial
fraction covers their particular system.

~~~
mcphage
I second this book. If I recall correctly, it shows implementation on their
fairly unique hardware, but getting their examples working in a modern CA
library shouldn't be impossible.

------
joshmarlow
I'd recommend "The Lifebox, the Seashell and the Soul" (readable online at
[0]). It's wacky at times, and not deeply rigorous, but _thoroughly_
enjoyable. But not a textbook.

[0] - [http://www.rudyrucker.com/lifebox/](http://www.rudyrucker.com/lifebox/)

------
abetusk
My information is pretty dated but I found Wolfram's collected papers a very
good read (Amazon lists it as ~$40 but you can get it for under $5 used) [1].
I wouldn't be surprised if you could find a torrentable version as well.

You have to be careful about what kind of cellular automata you're talking
about. There's the 'toy models' such as 1d and 2d cellular automata that
Wolfram and Conway's Game of Life [2] fall into but there's also many others,
including lattice gases and more complex modeling options. I assume you mean
the cellular automata that have the flavor that Wolfram and Conway are talking
about.

The linked Wolfram book is a 'classical' treatment where he introduces
different classes (I,II,III and IV) of cellular automata, ranging from
completely ordered (1d, rule 0, say) to completely disordered (1d, rule 32,
say).

I hope I'm not rambling too much but from what I understand it was a commonly
accepted that 'complexity happens at the edge of chaos' [2]. Wolfram's "A New
Kind of Science" (again, from my understanding) essentially represents an
evolving view (by Wolfram) where he graduates from "complexity happens at the
edge of chaos" to "complexity is the norm, rather than the exception". Wolfram
coins this as the "principle of computational equivalence" [3]. People have
recommended ANKoS and I would really recommend against reading it. I think the
principle of computational equivalence and the proof that rule 110 is Turing
complete (given in ANKoS) are interesting but they're so buried in
exceptionally bad writing as to be not worth the effort.

If you're interested in studying Conway's Game of Life [4] more, there's Golly
[5], which is a wonderful piece of software. Cellular automata is a very large
field and there are lots of different questions to ask about it, so you might
want to limit your scope if you want more directed suggestions.

As a sort of tangential recommendation, I would highly encourage you to check
out "Complexity and Criticality" by Christensen and Moloney [6]. Though they
don't talk about the cellular automata that are described above, they motivate
a lot of the different concepts of criticality, phase transitions and other
motifs that show up repeatedly when discussing these models and others like
them.

[1] [https://www.amazon.com/Cellular-Automata-Complexity-
Collecte...](https://www.amazon.com/Cellular-Automata-Complexity-Collected-
Papers/dp/0201626640/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1466995038&sr=1-1&keywords=9780201626643)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_of_chaos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_of_chaos)

[3]
[http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PrincipleofComputationalEquival...](http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PrincipleofComputationalEquivalence.html)

[4]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway's_Game_of_Life](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway's_Game_of_Life)

[5] [http://golly.sourceforge.net/](http://golly.sourceforge.net/)

[6] [https://www.amazon.com/Complexity-Criticality-Advanced-
Physi...](https://www.amazon.com/Complexity-Criticality-Advanced-Physics-
Texts/dp/1860945171/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466995970&sr=8-1&keywords=christensen+complexity)

~~~
saretired
Wolfram has put the entire text of Cellular Automata and Complexity: Collected
Papers online

[http://www.stephenwolfram.com/publications/cellular-
automata...](http://www.stephenwolfram.com/publications/cellular-automata-
complexity/)

The survey papers in this collection would be the place for OP to start; note
that some of the other papers assume a significant background in mathematics
and physics.

------
syngrog66
have you tried googling for "books on cellular automata"? also consulting
Wikipedia, Amazon, YouTube, etc, more directly?

~~~
syngrog66
I am amused that this very reasonable and constructive, and "teach a man to
fish" kind of comment of mine has been downvoted to -1.

HN ownership/mods: please remove the ability to Downvote. it's clearly being
abused. do you want to have a community of smart, helpful people with free
discussion, with the goal of mutual improvement? or do you want a community of
assholes and heavy HiveMind/ThoughtPolice effect?

a follow-up related challenge is do you want HN to become the sort of website
where anyone can ask, for example, "what is foo?" despite <foo> being a thing
that that very same someone could have gotten reasonable answers/education
about by just googling about? What is sex? What is algebra? How do I learn
about computers? What is a website? What is a web browser? What is HN? Who is
PG? What is the English language?

Are these acceptable questions for the caliber of people you'd like to attract
and retain here on HN? Do you realize that some people are just gaming your
system? Do you realize that some are carrying out stealth self-promotion,
while playing innocent? Where do babies come from? Which key do I press to
submit this comment? How do I use the Chrome browser? Are these all acceptable
post topics and comments here on HN as well? (This should be a fair question
given the recent mod and community track record to date.) What is "Star Wars"?
Who made "Linux"? What is a "pineapple"?

