Another very interesting work on geology is Simon Winchester’s “The Map That Changed the World.”
It’s about the first geological map of Britain (circa 1820).
I had known that geology was a national craze in England in the late 18th-early 19th centuries, but I didn’t know why until I read this book.
The answer — coal. It was the oil of the day. As industrialization multiplied the need for coal, English landowners wanted to find coal deposits on their properties to exploit.
So you need to know what kind of surface geology indicates coal deposits.
Also, as more and more coal mines were dug, it was noticed that the underground layers occurred in regular patterns, and contained similar fossils in similar layers, that also showed a pattern.
Good book.
William Smith’s map!! Great story.