["All Creatures Great and Small"] shines with love of life. It is not surprising that James Herriot still ministers to his charges in the same location, for the reader soon feels that the man and his work should never be separated from Yorkshire and its people….

Herriot's portrayal of his mercurial and charming boss [Siegfried Farnon] and his boss's fey brother Tristan is delightful. Indeed, every character in the book emerges with force and clarity. There is humor everywhere, including the often futile attempts of a domineering woman to bring some order to Siegfried's slapdash bookkeeping….

However, Herriot's book is more than a collection of well-told anecdotes and sharply drawn personalities. Laced through it is the author's growing awareness that he is in the right place doing the right thing….

Herriot charms because he delights in life, embraces it with sensitivity and gusto and writes with grace. Reading him, one is reminded that there are still, nearly 40 years after the time of his story, country places where the wind blows clean, places where men and women find pleasure in hard work and simple living.