Our World has shifted dramatically over time. Our great land masses and oceans have moved, grown, shrunk, come together and pulled apart over the Earth's history. It is the fossils that have helped shape our understanding of this tremendous story of upheaval. Part of understanding fossils has been simple observation. We find fossilized shells on mountain tops — quite unexpectedly — and this makes us question how this could be possible. 
As we learn about plate tectonics and palaeogeography, we also observe collections of fossils and what they tell us about ancient climates, distribution of species and life on Earth over time. I find textbooks very useful as a means to gain an understanding of these concepts. I also love a great story and highly recommend the work of Simon Winchester. He's written many a great tale. I thought you might enjoy one of them on the life of William Smith, the father of modern geology — The Map that Changed the World.