The Blind Watchmaker

Before I move on to more technical resources, if you want to know exactly why evolution works from a biological point of view, Richard Dawkins' "The Blind Watchmaker" is an excellent introduction.

Genetic programming is a simulation of biological evolution, and of course a simplified one, but it doesn't hurt to know how nature does it.

One of the pieces from this book that proved most useful, later on in my project, is how gradual selection pressure is achieved via co-evolution of species and sub-species. More on that later on...