Reading Herriot's book is like listening to the stories of a very old friend. Familiar. Comforting. A little repetitious. His stories of veterinary work in the Yorkshire dales ( All Creatures Great and Small , LJ 8/72; All Things Bright and Beautiful , LJ 10/15/74) 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 missing. The older Herriot struggles to maintain the wonder and merriment of his youth but gets bogged down in the mundane aspects of shopping for a house and seems numbed rather than heartbroken by the death of some of his patients. Demand will warrant multiple copies, but for the first-time Herriot reader, recommend his earlier works.