Rating: Summary: A Timeless Classic - An Animal Lover's Delight Review: I recieved this book as a gift then it was first published in the 1970's. I have read it at least five times. Each time I read it I am delighted all over again.This is an animal lover's delight - but it's much more than that. Follow the young James Herriott as he starts his adventure as a country veterninarian. You feel his pain and joy as he experiences failures and successes. His courtship with his wife-to-be Helen is poignant. Herriott tells it like it is: there's no fancy stuff. Don't let that make you think this is dull. Herriott's descriptions of the landscape and characters make you feel like you're there: the sights and smells he describes tantalize your senses. You can smell the fresh country air, the hearty farm meals, and so much more. This is a book that will delight young and old alike. Read a chapter and it's a mini-book in itself, or curl up for the long haul. I found it very hard to put down. You'll be enchanted by Herriott's adventures (and misadventures) and find yourself laughing and crying. Even after 5 reads, I'm ready for another. This stuff never gets old.
Rating: Summary: one of the best books out of the best series ever written Review: It's been six years since I first bought one of James Herriot's novels, and far longer since I read his picture books (e.g. Bonnie's Big Day). Even now in my last year of high school, it's a choice I have never regretted making. All Creatures Great and Small is just one of the most heart-warming and touching books written by someone who was truly blessed by God. This book is serves as an inspiration and companion for the soul of any animal-lover, one whose stories will never fade with the passage of the years. It brings every facet of life and love into being, and is a calling for all animal-lovers around the globe. I have James Herriot, my idol, to thank for helping me choose veterinary medecine as my future career, a choice I have stood by for eleven years!
Rating: Summary: The beginning of magic Review: This is where it all started with James Herriott for me - a paperback tucked in with 3 or 4 other books I received for my birthday a long time ago. I couldn't tell you what the other books were, but this book, and its sequels, have become dear friends. I can tell you the stories from memory (and from my heart) and I have read the paperbacks so often I've had to replace them with hardbacks just so they'll last longer. James Herriott was a vet practicing in Yorkshire (England) from the end of the Depression until about 20 years ago. The stories are charming, happy, glorious, tragic and tear-jerking. It was a wonderful but brutal time to be practicing veterinary medicine. It was before many of the surgeries we have now and Herriott was there for the introduction of antibiotics and many other medicines. Think about it - how often have you had your cat or dog treated for infections - 60 years ago there was nothing to kill the bacteria that brought death to so many. How impossibly hard it must have been for him to lose so many of the animals he treated, and how wonderful when he knew he saved them either for the farmers who needed their stock or the families who loved their pets. And the people he writes about! What characters! I have pets and love to read the stories about cats and dogs and horses. I teach medical students and use more than a few examples from these books about the PROCESS of thinking which is so essential to any practice of medicine. His stories here and in later books about diagnosing hoof and mouth disease or husk or heatstroke or nettlerash are fascinating reading about the mind of a physician as it works while the seconds of life tick away. This book is great, the series of books is great - curl up somewhere and get to know them.
Rating: Summary: My Favorite Book of All Time Review: I consider the characters in James Herriot's book to be among my best friends. They have always had the ability to make me laugh or cry as I read about their exploits. James Herriot wrote about his life in a way that should be a model for all of us as we live our lives. His stories show a deep respect for all living things and a love for nature. He was a keen observer of human relationships and an admirer of the essential traits that make us all tick. Besides being all of these things, he was a masterful writer. Each of his anecdotes ends with a satisfying clincher and his descriptions are rich enough that you can smell the Yorkshire pudding and feel the blistering wind. He created in me such of love of that environment, that I went to "Darrowby" on my honemoon just to retrace his steps. Do yourself a favor and read this book!
Rating: Summary: Best Listening Book Experience Ever!! Review: James Herriot is a wonderfully gifted writer. The way he can describe a scene with the exact perfect wording and phrase is simply uncanny. You are THERE on the Yorkshire dales living the lowly daily life of a young vet. Add to that Christopher Timothy's truly masterful performance and this audio book should be in the hall of fame. I cannot recommend it highly enough. A breath of fresh air. Genuinely hilarious, heart warming, uplifting. Give yourself the best gift ever. Listen to this book.
Rating: Summary: Stories that never fail to make you laugh and cheer up Review: These stories are true treasures. While the BBC series is amusing, these stories are far more personal. You get to met Dr. Herriot (a pseudonym for James Alfred Wight) who starts as a young veternarian just out of school and joins a country practice. Cows get the better of him, the local Yorkshire farmers one-up him, he gets his car inevitably stuck in the mud and yet prevails as a caring, resourceful vet who loves his quirkly rural clients as much the animals he cares for. He also writes with such laugh-outloud humor and self-deprecation you just wish the book would go on and on. Fortunately, he wrote four more of these books (each named for a line in a hymn) and a memoir of his father, in whose practice he began. They really give you the flavor of rural life in England before and after WWII. I can't believe these stories are 30 years old, and Dr. Herriot has passed on. Thankfully he left this legacy behind for us to savor. These are books to re-read on dreary days with a cup of tea or just when you really need something to lift your spirits.
Rating: Summary: This is a really great book for readers and non-readers. Review: I found this book to be a very easy read, and would recommend it to anybody that reads at the fourth grade level or higher. The Scottish author, James Herriot, describes his life as a newly hired veterinarian, in pre-WWII England. He shares with readers his experiences in handling distressed animals, their owners and caretakers, the business of being a veterinarian, and the successes and failures of love and life. His descriptions of the situations he was in, were right on. Being British, and the grandson of a blacksmith, I could easily picture in my mind what kind of weather he was experiencing, or how dark a barn, byer, or piggery might be. His characterizations of the local farmers and townspeople were great, and he met some really interesting people! The book left me with a new respect for what life was like for people in the days when life seemed so much simpler than what it is today. I have just started "All Things Bright and Beautiful", and look forward to completing it, and the rest of Herriot's books in the future.
Rating: Summary: A great book Review: You have to be dead not to enjoy this book. I just wanted to register my five stars.
Rating: Summary: There is Only One Way to Read This Book Review: To fully enjoy this book, one must sit in front of the fireplace on a cold damp day, and have at your ready a nice glass of wine or a glass of hearty ale. Then one can fully enjoy the full essence of the Yorkshire vet experience. It does not hurt to have your dog there also. Just a wonderful book by a talented writer. I have read it at least twice in front of the fire. Jack in Toronto
Rating: Summary: WHAT A HOOT! Review: This country vet will win your heart and make appreciate what veternarians go through. All of his books are heartwarming and humorous and sensitive. I came I read I laughed I loved them all.
|