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Plenty of advice for you already posted here. A Forum search for certain terms will bring you lots of information. There probably aren't many questions you can think of haven't already been answered here already. First year hunting experiences: LINK Collecting Gear A Beginner's Guide to Fossil Hunting. A Noob's Guide for New Collecting Sites. Books for Beginners Good luck!

Check out the "Fossil Literature" section of this forum and go back page-by-page. There are at least a couple of threads in there where members list good books for beginners. I would suggest "Crusin' the Fossil Freeway" by Kirk Johnson and Ray Troll. It provides some basic geology and paleontology with great photos and artwork. The illustrations will help if the writing gets hard to follow.

Although the internet has a lot of good information on it and is great for doing searches, books are still a better resource for trying to break into an area of study. The internet is mostly bits and pieces of information that is not presented in a coherent form. Here are a few books that can get a person started and if you buy the used issues, they probably can all three be had for less than $20. "Field Guide to North American Fossils" by National Audubon Society "Simon and Schuster's Guide to Fossils" "A Guide to Fossils" by Helmut Mayr One thing that these books will teach you is a better understanding of how classification is done and how to spot diagnostic features that can help you classify your finds. You will learn about "the tree of life" and how these fossils attach to it. These books mostly just focus on classification down to the family level of classification, and then when it brings you that claose, you are ready to start googling to boil it down to the genus and maybe even the species, by using the broader scope of the internet. These books are very general and broad on purpose. There is no way to present the whole world of fossils in one volume, but the books become a spring board for better understanding of the science of paleontology and classification. Anybody else got suggestions a good general beginner's books?

Two books not yet mentioned yet are: "Field Adventures in Paleontology" by Lynne M. Clos "Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway" by Kirk Johnson and Ray Troll In both the authors talk about their fossil hunting trips. They're great books for beginners because they are informal and give a good idea of what you can expect to find at a variety of sites representing various ages Both books are also under $30 retail and you can find them for half that secondhand. One of my favorites is "A Fossil Hunter's Notebook" by Edwin H. Colbert. It's the autobiography of a paleontologist who accomplished so much by the age of 75 and yet he wrote with a modesty so rare these days. He had no idea at the time that he had another 20 years of productivity ahead It's easy-to-read and can also be found for less than $20. .

Wilco. Thanks. I shall have to make do with Belamnites for now then. Checked that website and it's a world of help. Ta. I'll get me a trilo yet. Can you recommend any books for beginners? When I say beginners please read dunces.