Violentvixen
(She/Her)
So I just learned that a new PBS version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small premieres tomorrow! I know absolutely nothing about it so hopefully it's good. I remember liking the BBC series too but definitely haven't seen all of the episodes.
But seeing that made me realize that it's been at least 15 years since I've read the books. These were absolutely my favourite growing up, I had the whole series and a few other books of his. I read them over and over again, at least two copies of the books fell apart over the years.
This series also directly affected my career path. Like a lot of other little kids I wanted to be a veterinarian which is why someone got the first book for me as a gift. But it showed sides of being a vet I really hadn't considered before. I knew that animals might die in my care and I was prepared for that. But these books portrayed cases where animals died because the owners couldn't afford care, or didn't even know to bring them to the vet. I was NOT prepared for that. There were many other cases in the books where I realized that the human interaction part of this was just not for me.
But I still loved the science, the problem solving/diagnosis and of course the animals. There are some wonderful characters in these books, I seem to remember Helen being a badass too although it's been a while. Later in life I'd appreciate his discussion of what medicine was like pre-penicillin. Not something I'll even really experience but fascinating to read. Approaching things by looking at symptoms, the process of elimination, the conditions, it was so engaging for me as a kid.
Also thinking back I went from James Herriot to Oliver Sacks as my favourite author and I can kind of see some logic there...
But seeing that made me realize that it's been at least 15 years since I've read the books. These were absolutely my favourite growing up, I had the whole series and a few other books of his. I read them over and over again, at least two copies of the books fell apart over the years.
This series also directly affected my career path. Like a lot of other little kids I wanted to be a veterinarian which is why someone got the first book for me as a gift. But it showed sides of being a vet I really hadn't considered before. I knew that animals might die in my care and I was prepared for that. But these books portrayed cases where animals died because the owners couldn't afford care, or didn't even know to bring them to the vet. I was NOT prepared for that. There were many other cases in the books where I realized that the human interaction part of this was just not for me.
But I still loved the science, the problem solving/diagnosis and of course the animals. There are some wonderful characters in these books, I seem to remember Helen being a badass too although it's been a while. Later in life I'd appreciate his discussion of what medicine was like pre-penicillin. Not something I'll even really experience but fascinating to read. Approaching things by looking at symptoms, the process of elimination, the conditions, it was so engaging for me as a kid.
Also thinking back I went from James Herriot to Oliver Sacks as my favourite author and I can kind of see some logic there...