[hanzoganz]

Yes, the book seems to have only nice ilustrations that doesn´t explain much. And not much physics. But it is not that simple. Cellular automata are used to model PDE´s with soliton solutions for discrete integrable systems via ultradiscretizations (Tokihiro). This kind of equations are very important in physics. And curiosly, to do this is not that simple.
About Wolfram´s book, i recommend going to the finla notes, where the hardcore of the subject is explained. The text itself is just an excuse to present this kind of ideas.