My new hobby: Learning about Wine

Do you ever feel a bit thick when you are having dinner in a nice place and the waiter asks if you want a drink? You think "hell yes" but manage to say "yes that would lovely thank you" and ask for a glass of wine. Then they present the wine list. Crap. What on earth do you do with this? Normally my method is look for the cheapest and then go a couple up from there, however this can be a little bit hit and miss! Therefore this summer I have decided to combat this issue, and do a very grown up thing: learn about wine. I am hopeful that part of this is going to involve tasting a lot of them.
My dad knows quite a lot about wine, however in a million years I am not going to ask him, as I would only end up finding out what his favourites are - and we have very different tastes. Also his stories go on for hourssssss. And I cannot cope.
Therefore option 2, is buying a book. This seems very doable! The first book I purchased was Leith's Guide to Wine. I bought this in an actual shop (I usually amazon everything) and flicked through a couple of different options, before deciding that the cover of this one would look good in my bookcase and I liked that it was broken down a lot. After getting it home, I realised that the first few sections were really interesting, but then it talks about the different areas where wines are grown and I got a bit bored. However, I think as I learn more it will become more useful though.

After this book I decided that going on Amazon was probably a good idea, and I picked up The Wine Pocket Bible and Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book 2015. The former has a really cute cover, and is designed for wine idiots like me and includes how to choose wine from restaurant wine lists, how to tell if a wine is corked, characteristics of all the main grape types, what styles of wine come from the world's major wine region, classic and up-and-coming wine producers from each region and the best way to store and serve wine. Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book 2015 is the number one bestselling wine guide, and provides information on individual bottles of wine each year.

My aim is to learn enough about wine so that when I next go out with my dad, I can order a bottle of wine and have him enjoy it. This will undoubtedly benefit him more than me, but at least I won't feel like an idiot any more!
Do any of you know about wine? Or have any other hobbies you are taking up over the summer? Let me know in the comments!
Lots of love