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Summary: Passionate storytelling
Review: "All Creatures Great and Small" is a passionate and autobiographical account by James Herriot of his early years as a vet. Recently qualified, the young Scottish James finds work in the 1930s in a remote area of the Yorkshire Dales, during a time when jobs, let alone paying jobs, are scarce. In possession of only a small suitcase, he makes his way to the middle of nowhere in Northern England, waits around for an interview with his new boss, which he lands despite having fallen asleep in the garden when his boss finally returns.The eccentric Siegfried Farnon hires young James, and together they run a practice that mainly deals with cattle and farmers. Of course, being a stranger in this community is not easy, nor is it easy being a vet. Farmers have their own conclusions about cow diseases and some bizarre (non-scientific) treatments for them. It is up to James to convince them of his new found skills and to prove his worth in what is a reticent but deep down, a kind-hearted and generous community. In his job James runs across a bunch of interesting characters: his boss, Tristan who is the boss' carefree and accident-prone younger brother, farmers, a rich lady with a fat dog to whom James becomes and adopted "uncle", as well as a girl or two. The story is warm, funny and heartwarming. The story is not only an interesting personal story, but also fascinating from a historical and scientific point of view. And let's not forget James' relationship with all the animals. Herriot demonstrates a rare talent for telling an engrossing story. Thoroughly enjoyable, and highly recommended to audiences of all ages.
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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!
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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: Excellent....
Review: I picked this book up one day with no clue as to what it was. After having read it I've concluded that it's the best story that I've read concerning animals (excluding animal farm). It also helped me understand life as a veternarian (at least some fifty years ago!) I've also come to the conclusion that Herriot has created a brilliant novel in his first try that have taken so many others years to complete. Synopsis: A heart-warming true tale of a veternarian named Dr. James Herriot in the late 30s in Yorkshire, England.
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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.
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Summary: Great and not-so-small
Review: James Herriot was a country veterinarion who lived in Yorkshire before (and after) World War II. His stories are funny, heartwarming, sad, and highly educational. And after reading this, you will either want to be a vet or be very grateful that you aren't one. The book opens (after a brief chapter taking place several months later) with James arriving in Yorkshire, to be the assistant to the eccentric but kindly Siegfried Farnon (yes, that is his name). He becomes accustomed to Siegfried, Siegfried's mischievous younger brother Tristan (yes, that is his name), and the gruff, kindly farmers who eke out a living in the Yorkshire Dales. Pampered pooches who are spoiled rotten, savage pigs who chase Tristan around the farm, a nightmarishly strict secretary who drives Siegfried up the wall, James's car-with-no-brakes, cows running on three cylinders, a sadistic vet who makes James wear a rubber bodysuit, and an elderly, immensely wealthy widow who adopts a pig. And through this, James falls in love with the beautiful Helen Alderson and worms his way into the trust of the farmers. James Herriot (real name, James Wight) was truly a one-of-a-kind man. He let readers into his head throughout the book, where the cows kick him across the yard, farmers often treat him as an interloper or a nuisance, and his boss gives contradicting orders from one day to the next. But he never loses his drive or his love of animals. (Okay, he hates some animals, but only as individuals) He even lets the readers see him at his worst, when he's humiliated by some recalcitrant livestock, and one horrible scene where he and his date show up drunk and mud-smeared in front of the girl he adores. (Not to mention when Tristan got him to use very feminine-smelling bath salts) But don't think that all of these stories are funny or romantic -- quite a few are aggravating or outright sad. James didn't soften the blows at all. The people around James are just as fantastic: Siegfried, his weird but genial boss who can kick Tristan out of the house and forget about it overnight; Tristan, the mischievous anti-scholar who usually manages to keep out of trouble; and Helen, who seems a little too saintly at times (which isn't surprising, since James married her). There are a lot of details about surgery and stuff like that that will gross out the squeamish, but at least you'll learn a lot of medical trivia. (For example, what is a torsion?) It's sweet, sad, funny, romantic, dramatic. "All Creatures Great And Small" (and its four sequels) is a fantastic read for all ages.
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Summary: classic works!
Review: James Herriot's books stand out in modern writing as absolute classics, evocative of an earlier, more innocent time, and more wonderously, by the skill with which these deceptively simple, entertaining, moving stories are written. Beneath the entertaining text and characters lies absolutely beautiful, artful writing, with craft and skill that ties all these chapters and stories together in a pattern of one country vet's life in England in the 1930's and 40's. These are so much more than animal stories. I am biased; these are my favorite all-time books, read and re-read since my youth. Increasing age has not diminished their charm. History will write James Herriot's name large. If you haven't read these books yet, you owe it to yourself to start with "All Creatures Great and Small". Whether or not you care for animals, you will fall in love with a gentler time, the escapades of a trio of young men, and the laugh-out-loud as well as very tearful events this author writes about so beautifully. Absolutely timeless and a classic.
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Summary: All tales wonderful and beautiful
Review: Such a great book and a great beginning to an amazing series. I never had the oppourtunity to read this in school, but my older brother had a copy of it laying around for many years, and one day I picked it up and started reading. The stories were so engrossing it was hard to put this book down. The narration is so rich and textured, you can almost feel yourself transported to the places and meeting the people and animals, having the experiences the author talks about. In a way, I am sort of glad I didn't read this when I was younger, as I doubt that I would have appreciated as much as I do. Even though the stories take place a world away, the author has a way of making it seem familiar. After I finished this book, I went on to read the rest in the series, and I was never disappointed, but this one will always be my favorite. A great book for anyone, even if you don't care for animals.
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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.
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Summary: Best Listening Book Experience Ever!!
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.
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