[dvgrn]

I think the biggest prerequisite for getting good at "advanced GoL" is just an unreasonable amount of patience.

Probably I'm a good case in point. I'm definitely not a particularly clever mathematician, but it seems like it's possible to understand any new Life technology just by tinkering with the pieces for long enough.

If anyone wants to follow along with that kind of learning process, just start working through the Life textbook that kryptiskt mentioned. (Full disclosure, I'm one of the authors.)