Had a 12-person seminar with the founder of Genetic Algorithms, John Holland. Read about him here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_Holland

In my opinion, this is his most accessible book (for the topic that is) about GA's:

http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Order-Adaptation-Builds-Complex...

Professor Holland is sharp as hell, insistent about expanding interdisciplinary studies, and a very nice guy.