Reading Herriot's book is like listening to the stories of a very old friend. Familiar. Comforting. His stories of veterinary work in the Yorkshire dales ( All Creatures Great and Small , All Things Bright and Beautiful , ) have brought to many city folk a sense of wonder and an understanding of the life of a country vet and his patients, both human and animal. In this collection, an older and perhaps more tired Herriot struggles with bad - tempered farmers, difficult diagnoses, an assistant who travels with a live badger, and his own pet cats, who will have nothing to do with him. While the stories and settings hark back to his previous works, the humor and spark are wonderful. The older Herriot struggles to maintain the wonder and merriment of his youth but gets excited shopping for a house and seems heartbroken by the death of some of his patients.
I have read James Heriott many, many times and I never get tired of him. His new veterinary assistant , a veterinarian is very qualified but a bit odd, but a very interesting Character.
I have read James Heriott many, many times and I never get tired of him. His new veterinary assistant , a veterinarian is very qualified but a bit odd, but a very interesting Character.
Volume 1, with two audio cassettes, is what I have available.
Joan G. (despinne) reviewed Every Living Thing (Audio Cassette) (Abridged) on + 59 more book reviews
This is fun to listen to. Herriot must have worked in England as a veterinarian before World War II. Therefore, you get a real sense of what the world was like then--fairly calm, although he was rather poor. However, animals and their relationships with humans do not change. People do not change, only their environment. So today, we have to take our animals to the vet, rather than have the vet come to the animals. I suppose horse and cattle vets do go to the farms. I recall one coming to my uncle's farm to vaccinate the cows against brucellosis, a disease that can be passed to humans in the milk. Enjoy the listen.
