The author is clearly a very sensitive, beautiful person and his empathy shone through. However, there are times when I felt the book was a little too personal and emotional and that is unusual since I am a very emotional creature myself. Maybe it is because I am very sensitive myself that I felt uncomfortable at times, maybe it was too close to the bone. Maybe it was his emotional delivery on audio, which felt a little dramatic at times. I am not saying he should have done it differently, just that it did not always work for me. Harvey, Chris (29 November 2010). "The Bionic Vet: he can rebuild them". The Telegraph . Retrieved 4 April 2015. I found it a very dull read. I'm sorry Noel. It's like he just got away with writing it exactly as he thought it - not edited? I don't know how to explain, but it was boring. Now that I'm older, I realise that our lives have many parallels. Daddy started out with nothing and made his own way, by his own intelligence, determination, toil and sweat. This has been my experience too, and I have come to learn that the only thing worth having is what I earned myself.

Noel Fitzpatrick Homepage - Professor Noel Fitzpatrick

Read with my daughter who is a fan of Supervet and very much enjoyed the author’s previous book which I think was more conventionally biographical. The middle section covers vet school and his early days as a vet, and was for me the most enjoyable part of the book, with some amusing anecdotes to leaven the continuing negativity. I did feel that he found talking about his early life in Ireland, and his romantic attachments, a little awkward. However the chapters on his patients, and the building of his dreamed for practice, were so interesting that I could not put the book down. I expected to love this book more than I did. I definitely thought it was interesting and inspiring, but for some reason I did not end up quite loving it. However, I did like this book and I would recommend it if you are interested in animals and their stories, as well as the life of a vet, or if you need that final push to persevere with something. You could just watch the TV show if you are more interested in the veterinary side rather than his personal story. Some of the animal stories in here were on the TV show. In between I learned a lot about running a successful veterinary surgery and how Noel develops his techniques. I really sensed his love and compassion, not only for the animals but also their owners.I feel anyone who is an animal lover will enjoy this read, Noel writes in a way that helps you understand the science of what is going on so you can understand each animal case without it being completely bogged down in medical terms.

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What can I say, Noel has always been my hero, now he is even more so. He had such a bad start in education, being taught to be a good Catholic and little else at primary school and then being horrendously bullied at secondary school. He still had a dream, from a very young age, to be a vet and despite all the hurdles he achieved his ambition. He documents the struggles he's had in his life before becoming a vet and also during. He does this while discussing many of his cases in practice, his own family pets and his time living on a farm growing up. The book feels like just a continuous ramble of thoughts with no clear direction. I found it so difficult to read, compared to his first book which I absolutely loved. Sixthly in how up to date it is – the book’s themes drawing together in a very tangible and incredibly up to date way with a severe accident to his own dog in September 2020 (one month before publication). I really wanted to read and enjoy this book, having been given it as a Christmas present. However I found it rather disappointing, and strangely it read almost like three different books, each third (roughly) is written completely differently and each has its good and bad points.

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At worst points the narrative was condescending and exuded privilege. The narrative of "if you work for it you will get it" was so pervasive I found myself despairing and shaking my head numerous times.

The Superpets (and Me!): Amazing True Stories of Incredible

I also had no idea what went into building his practice, both in sweat and tears, but also money and debt. I told someone that I had read the book and the only thing that they said was ‘He must be so rich.’ I may have thought the same, but now I know better. He is not in the job for the money, it really is all about the animals. Some kind of cute parts, a good news story as far as where he came from and how he got there. As far as he never really thought himself too brilliant, but he's done brilliant things. He somehow just kept going and going and working and he came good. Growing up on the family farm in Ballyfin, Ireland, Noel's childhood was spent tending to the cattle and sheep, the hay and silage, the tractors and land, his beloved sheepdog Pirate providing solace from the bullies that plagued him at school. It was this bond with Pirate, and a fateful night spent desperately trying to save a newborn lamb, that inspired Noel to enter the world of veterinary science - and set him on the path to becoming The Supervet. I remember last winter, on Sunday evenings, watching The Supervet on the couch under a cozy blanket and crying my eyes out for the poor animals which were presented in the show. At the same time Noel made me understand that there is hope and good quality of life also for badly injured animals. I wish I knew of Noel when my dog needed surgery on his spine, things could have been different. Reading the book made me like him even more as a human being. His work is amazing and I like people who keep their heart open although they were not always treated kindly. I know of Noel’s skill but have only seen glimpses of his tv programs as I hate to see animals suffer.

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In November 2014, he was awarded the UCD Alumni Award for veterinary medicine. [8] He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Surrey for the concept of One Medicine: the advancement of human and animal treatments in tandem. [9] He is an Associate Professor at the University of Florida School of Veterinary Medicine [10] and Professor and founding member of Orthopaedics in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Surrey. [11] I honestly just don't know what happened with this book. I've read half way with a view to continuing but now I know why I gave up in the first place. The book features several cases of previous patients of the four legged kind - some survive, some don’t – and that must be very hard.

Beyond Supervet: How Animals Make Us The Best We Can Be

I love the programme The Supervet and I haven't read his other book. I didn't actually know there was another book until I read this. I came at this book with an open mind because I had no clue what it was about but I sort of expected something of a vaguely autobiographical nature. What I got was a book verging on despair; full of one part arrogance, five parts low self esteem and damage from bullying as a child. I got a self help book and a philosophy book as well as a book on transcendental meditation and buddhism. I got a lecture about the danger of 'over treatment' and how hurt he was that he had been accused of it. (Incidentally as a watcher of Supervet I've quite often thought there was over treatment but then as he points out, it's not quantifiably defined so who knows). Discover amazing stories of The Supervet’s most incredible animals from bionic cats to hero hedgehogs and courageous chameleons! This was a book gifted to me and it took me a couple of years to decide to read it. I ended up going with the audio book, narrated by the author. I completely understand why my mother-in-law gave it to me. I love animals. I always have some around me. I wanted to be a vet when I was younger. It definitely needed better editing as it was very repetitive in places but it was a very interesting and humbling book. I enjoyed reading about some of his hobbies that he loved and learnt from, although all fell to the wayside as work took over his life. And we also heard about relationships, here he was very honest with us, I’m not sure that I really needed to know how old he was when he lost his virginity, but it was an interesting chapter.

This is a lively book with moments of joy as an animal recovers or a new technique is a success but also of sorrow when a pet cannot be saved or succumbs to old age.