All Creatures Great and Small by James HerriotSummary: This book is a kind of autobiography. James Harriot recounts his life as a veterinarian in the Yorkshire countryside in England. Although the book is a large narrative, beginning with his internship with Siegfried Farnon and ending with his marriage to Helen, smaller stories about his relationships with his "patients" make the book feel like a collection of short stories. Mr. Harriot recounts how he gave birth to a calf in the middle of the night, or how he had to deal with a curiously slow family on their way to a play. The variety of her stories made the book a lot of fun to read. The Essay: All Creatures Great and Small is made up of many short stories of a veterinarian helping the animals he loves. In the first chapter of the book, James Herriot introduces himself to the reader through one of these stories. As a newly qualified veterinarian, Herriot receives a call to deliver a calf. It's the middle of the night and he knows very little about the Yorkshire area. He must deal with the cow that has the calf and the cow's curious owners, who question his abilities as a veterinarian. Much of the situation is unknown to Herriot, because much of what a veterinarian must do is not in the textbooks. That’s what makes this book so comforting and true. James Harriot focuses on the emotional feelings that come with treating animals, not the medical and technical side. Throughout the first chapter, he must deal with many problems that arise during the birth of the calf. But in the end, he forgets all his troubles and feels joy towards the calf that has just been born. “I smiled. This is the piece that I liked. The little miracle. I felt like it was something that would never go out of style no matter how often I saw it. All his medical training is thrown out the window once the deed is done. He tells, through this short chapter, why he became a veterinarian. Not for medical science, but because of his love for Earth's creatures. He sees how much an animal means to an individual, whether it's a cow to a farmer or a little poodle to an old lady. Each case is new. He feels for every animal, whether it's a bird or a horse.