Life Story

The story of life on our earth from its beginnings up to now 

By Virginia Lee Burton

Written in 1962

Revised in 2009

The whole world is a stage in five acts – from the incomprehensible vastness of space to the reader’s own home.

I was familiar with Virginia Lee Burton for her more well-known books, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel and The Little House.  I just discovered this beautiful, informative, inspiring book last week.  My version is the revised 2009 edition – updated for the 100^th birth anniversary of the author to reflect more current scientific knowledge of natural history.

Burton wrote a book on evolution that makes the concept easy to grasp for young children.

Explaining natural history from the Paleozoic Era to Present Day, Burton uses scientific terms and concepts in way that is clear and poetic.  It is a beautiful story, yet is also full of facts and details.  I think I would have loved this book as a child.  I can remember trying to grasp the concept of the infinity of space and time, and I think this book would have been helpful.

This book brings the focus in one step at a time to the reader, making the history of the world seem like a personal story.  It gives the reader a sense of his own miniscule, yet magnificently important place in the vastness of time.  The text eloquently ends, 

“And now it is your Life Story

and it is you who plays the leading role.

The stage is set, the time is now, and the place wherever you are.

Each passing second is a new link in the endless chain of Time.

The drama of Life is a continuous story – ever new,

ever changing, and ever wondrous to behold.”