i took an earth science class this last year and found it incredibly fascinating and would like to learn more. one thing that partially discourages me with making rocks/minerals more of a hobby for me is that they are so difficult to identify in the field
Mountain - it's not difficult at all once you get to know the minerals. You start to learn how each smells, tastes, looks, feels (etc...). And you also start to learn the basic characteristics of a lot of common types of minerals so that when you come across one that you may not know off the bat it would still be easy to figure out just what exactly it could be. Tara - I like gems too - but usually only if they are in the rough!
I know a little, primarily being interested in the geology of Ontario, but I wouldn't consider myself a "rock-head".
in my science class last year we did geology forever and i actually liked it and was interested so im gonna sign up for geology asap