>>1642993a good book that makes you appreciate that everything is essentially space dust, is "How to build a habitable planet" by
here are the lecture notes for an intro to paleo course that was basically a copy of my intro to paleo course
https://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/G331/331Syl.htmlWhat kind of geology information you might encounter on hikes depends on where you live. Check what your local geology is, is it mostly sedimentary or is it igneous, are the a lot of mountains.
If you are in a mountainous area check out an intro to structural geology book.
If you are in a flat place with lots of rivers- A sedimentology book
also you might be near fossil sites- fossils are mostly shellfish and not dinos though.
look up paleogeography videos and maps, it is pretty interesting to see where the land you are on was millions of years ago.
