The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall

I clearly haven't read enough Pern books. I am very familiar with the first 3-4 of the main books
as well as the Dragon Singer books.
But I had trouble understanding the time line in this book.
There were only a few things that I newly learned that I cared about.
A couple of the stories just seemed like things that happened, like the establishment of new holds and weyrs, but I didn't see how they were significant in the history of the colony.
I have several Pern books piled up around here that I haven't read, maybe I should get started on them.