James Herriot's book "All Things Wise and Wonderful," is a collection of his memories as a vet in the English countryside. As he is serving in the Air Force, he is having these recollections. He is a good vet with good virtues and good humor, and he really shows the connection between man and animals. It also shows connections between man and man, because of different characters he mentions and how he sees them. Herriot's book is almost like a bibliography of his life because it gives us an insight of what he went through in his head, preferences, in life, and how the time he lived in really shaped who he was. .
James Alfred Wight, known as the pen name of James Herriot, was born on 3 October 1916, in Sunderland, County Durham, England, to James and Hannah Bell Wight. He moved to Glasgow, Scotland, where he took work as both a ship plater and pianist for a local cinema, while Hannah was a singer, as well as a dressmaker. The couple had two children, James Alexander, born 13 February 1943, who also became a vet and was a partner in the practice, and Rosemary, born 1947, who became a physician in general practice. Herriot served in the Royal Air Force in 1942 during World War II. This would be one of the events that would have a great influence on the book because it is basically his life training in the Air Force and then him either seeing something to make him have a recollection of a past event or person, or just a memory of his life back at a call for an animal. For example, he would hear people in the Royal Air Force being loud, and he would recall a farmer named Len who would yell very loud, and you would be able to hear him from farms over. He makes several of these connections over the periods of his story. .
His time in the Royal Air Force had made him also realize that it wasn't the place for him, but he was only doing it for his love of England and to contribute. However, in reality, he consistently was homesick and thought of his life back as a vet and with his wife.
