All Things Wise and Wonderful (All Creatures Great and Small)

I truly cannot get enough of James Herriot. I so wish he was still alive so I could have the opportunity to meet him. He is such an endearing author who draws you in with his hilarious, but often sad, stories about being a farm vet. In 'All Things Wise and Wonderful' he has joined the RAF and briefly tells you about his time becoming a pilot. Most of the book is him daydreaming of being back on the Darrowby farms and living the life of a country vet. Some of the stories are kind of repeated - not the exact same stories as we read in the first two books of the series, but they are very similar (which I am sure he encountered many of the same things over and over). But he brings some new stories to the table that completely warmed my heart. While reading, I always have this slightly stupid smile that appears on my face. I just can't help it! The stories are so rich and fulfilling that I cannot help but smile and feel all warm and dreamy inside. I LOVE these books and I really want to go to England to see if I can find anything similar today to what he speaks about from the 30's.

Great read! Highly recommend

To all who love many human beings and also who love animals, James Herriot's books are for you. He writes warmly, compassionately, with humor, and very intelligently about his life in northern England as a veterinarian. In this book, he starts off with his joining the RAF and bits of what he went through in his training. But the actual focus of this book, as the reader comes to see, are that his RAF training and the people he meets during this time, remind him of past veterinary experiences and one is then plunged into his wonderful stories of life with his animal patients and their owners. The book is delightful, written with a serenity not often found these days. His patients don't always get well, but mostly they do, and his intelligence, veterinary knowledge and skill, and particularly his creativity in putting facts together for his diagnoses is astonishing. I have heard people say that the story is too slow-moving. I say to them that they should put away their prejudices and look into this delightful, deeply compassionate and often funny, well-written, sensitive series of true stories.

Yes, you probably know "All Creatures Great and Small." This continues the story. Funny and heartbreaking at the same time.

The only difference between this book and Herriot's others is that he has to cover more ground. He's flitting back and forth between his World War II experiences in the RAF and more of his experiences in the Yorkshire countryside with his beloved farm animals and some domestic animals. This made for a very complete autobiography. I found the story of his first solo flight to be very interesting. I think that there seem to be more people stories in this one than in the others, and some of them are sad, poignant stories. I think I have become addicted to Herriot's style of writing in his other books where he will provide us with stories of his day-to-day experiences with the animals and their owners. The effect is more immediate--he tells how the phone awakens him in the night and every detail of what happens when he reaches the side of the animal who is in labor or in pain or distress of some sort. Never what you would call a true animal lover, I have found that these stories put me in another place--they make me feel compassion for the animals (and their owners). Whereas, in this book he will tell rather typical military stories and then write that he is reminded of the time when he had to go out to a farm and nurse a certain animal back to health. We still get many of the stories which we have learned to crave from our warm and compassionate veterinarian, but the effect isn't as focused. It's still a very good book, but I will say that there were times when his people stories, whether military or civilian, dragged a little for me. I'd find myself eager to return to his animal world. This is where he shines--when describing both the farm animals and the domestic animals whom he treated and, in many cases, learned to love. I'm very glad that I read this book. I learned more about his multi-faceted life (it was good to get to know his wife better too). I highly recommend the book. Who knew that I, a 66-year-old lady who has kept her distance from animals her whole life, would become so addicted to Herriot's charming animal stories. In a way they read like a series of short mystery stories. The reader, instead of trying to figure out the perpetrator of a crime, is trying to figure out with Herriot, the cause of an animal's health problem. His books make for fascinating reading, and I'm proof that one doesn't have to be a lifelong animal lover to love these books.

I love all of James Herriot's books. His life was filled with wonderful animals and people. Everyone who loves animals should read this book.

One of the series of books by a Veterinarian in Great Britain. Tender stories of people and animals.

I used to watch segments of these books on television. When life gets tough and depressing, I borrow the books of James Herriot from the library. When I saw them offered on Kindle, I ordered "All Things Wise and Wonderful". I was reading it while my car was being serviced and laughed so hard that two mechanics came into the waiting room to see if I was all right. I was near hysterics trying to tell them about the story line but I couldn't get it out and they both looked at me like I might need medical help. I am 70 years old and I love a good laugh. I'm pretty sure that I convinced one of the mechanics to get the book and read it for himself. The different little stories that James tells are reviewed in my mind all day long as I do my work. I enjoy the kind of humor that makes you roll around on the floor in hysterics with tears and nose running. Each chapter is a different true account of his work as a veterinarian so that you can read when you can and not miss anything when you can't. One story was about an aristocratic older lady that had a Marmaduke type breed of house dog that continually passed very bad gas. It was very embarrassing for her to even explain to the vet what the trouble was and totally horrendous when she had her high class parties. James draws you along in the story that has a surprising ending as do most of the accounts. It's my antidepressant and my entertainment. I'm hooked.

My love for animals was rekindled after reading James Herriot. I have bought most of his books and often read them again and again.

The comments as for the other four books by this wonderful author apply. I just adore his stile and facinating manner, his ability to make the people and animals as well as the way of life in Yorkshire in the early 20th century come alive..

Without the technical medical words I would guess this book would be TOEIC 650 ish. If you're not a native reader you'll need a good dictionary to get through the series with the occasional veterinary words. Nice short anecdote from niceland.

James Herriot stories are the best. Wonderful narratives about his life and experiences as a vet in northern England. This is the second book in the series.

easy read