All Creatures Great and Small: The Warm and Joyful Memoirs of the World's Most Beloved Animal Doctor
The classic multimillion copy bestseller
Delve into the magical, unforgettable world of James Herriot, the world's most beloved veterinarian, and his menagerie of heartwarming, funny, and tragic animal patients. For over forty years, generations of readers have thrilled to Herriot's marvelous tales, deep love of life, and extraordinary storytelling abilities. For decades, Herriot roamed the remote, beautiful Yorkshire Dales, treating every patient that came his way from smallest to largest, and observing animals and humans alike with his keen, loving eye. In All Creatures Great and Small, we meet the young Herriot as he takes up his calling and discovers that the realities of veterinary practice in rural Yorkshire are very different from the sterile setting of veterinary school. Some visits are heart-wrenchingly difficult, such as one to an old man in the village whose very ill dog is his only friend and companion, some are lighthearted and fun, such as Herriot's periodic visits to the overfed and pampered Pekinese Tricki Woo who throws parties and has his own stationery, and yet others are inspirational and enlightening, such as Herriot's recollections of poor farmers who will scrape their meager earnings together to be able to get proper care for their working animals. From seeing to his patients in the depths of winter on the remotest homesteads to dealing with uncooperative owners and critically ill animals, Herriot discovers the wondrous variety and never-ending challenges of veterinary practice as his humor, compassion, and love of the animal world shine forth. James Herriot's memoirs have sold 80 million copies worldwide, and continue to delight and entertain readers of all ages.BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
Gentle, joyous, like a soft sunrise
It’s been ages since I first read these beautiful books, and they’ve only become better with age. Full of quiet moments of beauty, interspersed with genuine tension, observations of both human and animal nature, I just love these stories.
It’s been ages since I first read these beautiful books, and they’ve only become better with age. Full of quiet moments of beauty, interspersed with genuine tension, observations of both human and animal nature, I just love these stories.
Today Dhir presented the book summary for the International bestseller _Thinking, Fast and Slow_. *There exists two systems within our brain*: "Reactive system" that is designed to arrive at conclusion instantly. It is formed on the basis of our experiences, beliefs, our upbringing and years of practice. It is designed to not burden the brain and enabling it to function in auto pilot mode by leveraging our perception, intuition and associative memory. Murali illustrated the point through an exercise. Repeat SILK 5 times, now answer the Q - "What does cow drink". If your answer is Milk then it's this system answering and associative memory kicking in. On the the other hand, "lazy system" gives more thought. It makes you pause and think of the context and reasons before jumping to conclusions. Obviously, it requires more energy and effort from our end to use this system resources.
Imagine a seasoned driver who is able to chat with others in the car, answer phone calls and gaze out of the window all of this while driving. This is the first system at work. On the other hand, someone who is learning to drive, requires second system to pitch in and would not like to be disturbed while their gaze is fixed on road ahead.
There are physiological cues like heart rate and dilation of pupils that indicate which system is currently functioning.
*Is one better than other?*
We require both. However, it is critical to judge the situation and make a conscious choice between "Thinking fast and thinking slow". If we have some inconsequential and everyday decisions to make, we have to rely on first system's ability to make quick choices. For impactful decisions like investments, we invariably use the second system. Important is to be aware which system is under work and switch to second one to avoid making a mistake by making an easy choice.
Like always there were multiple associated discussions on believing in random successes, reversion to mean, correlation Vs causation, anchoring and Marshmallow experiment on delayed gratification. A great and enlightening discussion as always.
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