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Ask HN: Books about Genetic Algorithms

14 points · 7 visible top comments · 2026-06-28 20:40:07 UTC

news.ycombinator.com · Read Story HN original

I'm a developer. I have a basic working knowledge of classic neural networks. I'd like to learn about genetic algorithms. What books should I be reading? I prefer dead-tree, but pdf suggestions too please.

Comments

andyjohnson0 · 2026-06-28 20:42:48 UTC
I've seen recommendations for Genetic Algorithms in Search, Optimization, and Machine Learning by David E Goldberg as a classic/foundation text. However its 35+ years old. Is it still worth reading?
hdjhdbdhdh · 2026-06-29 05:02:35 UTC
I'd recommend going back to first principles for both and learning biology.
hdjhdbdhdh · 2026-06-29 05:09:59 UTC
And I get that this is yes not a book ... But a whole bunch of books... But there is a lot to learn from biology in this case
dhruv3006 · 2026-06-29 09:31:20 UTC
ISI Kolkata has a lot of research on it - you can go through the phd monologues maybe.
nbernard · 2026-06-29 09:54:57 UTC
Be aware that genetic algorithms are a type of evolutionary algorithms: Do you actually want to learn about genetic algorithms specifically, or more generally about evolutionary algorithms ?
andyjohnson0 · 2026-06-29 19:01:05 UTC
Thank you. Initially the former, and maybe later the latter.
jharohit · 2026-06-29 23:29:14 UTC
i have been pouring on my 10% free time into evolutionary algorithms. thinking about the premise of what a transformer alternative with evolutionary algorithms look like.

Would be keen on talking to anyone who has been researching in this area. X: @jharohit