How to Achieve a Heaven on Earth [Paperback]

John Wade II starts with a goal or mission: "I will try to love and help create a heaven on earth." To accomplish this he starts with defining what would be necessary to achieve a heaven on earth.

He came up with ten elements: 1. Peace, 2. Security, 3. Freedom,
4. Democracies, 5. Prosperity 6. Spiritual harmony, 7. Racial harmony,
8. Ecological harmony, 9. Health and 10. Moral purpose and meaning.

He then defines what he understands each element to mean. He does all this in the preface to the book. This is probably the most valuable part of the book. Here he sets out his mission and philosophy and you need to understand this to know the purpose and direction of the book.

Next he has assembled short essays from 101 authors that give their perspective on one of these elements. These essays are generally one to two pages. The authors include an extremely well known cross section of thinkers and leaders.

There is a wonderful mixture of ideas and thoughts presented here. There is no doubt that each reader will find some essays that really touch them and some that don't. This must be the case with presenting such a wide variety of authors.

What you gain from the book will depend to some extent on your personal philosophy and how open you are to new ideas and thoughts.

Because there are so many different authors and the essays are of necessity very short, no one is able to explore any topic in great detail. Depending on your taste, this is either very good or very bad. There is something to be said for being exposed to many different viewpoints and being able to pick and choose what you read. It is certainly not necessary to read cover to cover. I would pick and choose which essay I read. It is a great book for reading when you have very limited time.

I found the most thought provoking essay to be A Look at Radical Islam by Paul Marek. But there were literally dozens of great essays in the book.

The book would also make a great gift. Anyone can find a number of essays they like in this book.

The overall philosophy of the book is certainly one we all should give more attention to: trying to make the world a better place, creating a heaven on earth.

Whether we are religious or not, the heaven-on-earth idea resonates. It is positive in the extreme, and universally understood. It is an idea that stirs the imagination and can motivate us to do something personal to help bring it about. While the 101 essays in this book take 101 different slants on the issue, all are upbeat. And although many of them point out problems and roadblocks, they also highlight solutions and ways around those roadblocks. Most of the essays suggest a particular way of making a contribution to the world around us. None of these contributions, by themselves, will bring about a heaven on earth. But taken together they give us a sense of the power inherent in a multitude of small individual actions. And while none of the suggested ways may be exactly your way or my way, I don't think any of us could read this book without getting our own thoughts deeply stirred. The result: we are very likely to get insight into how we ourselves could nudge the process in the direction of that heaven-on-earth ideal.

John Wade offers to the world an eclectic mix of essays that will uplift and inspire you. His vision of building a better world is presented in 101 short contributions on subjects as diverse as politics to gardening. I have had the distinct pleasure of meeting Mr. Wade in person and he strikes me as a man committed to the betterment of the lives of those around him. As a contributor to this project myself, I am amazed at the diversity among my co-authors. This abundance of opinion and perspectives is a great testament to John Wade's stated goal of achieving a heaven on earth. Like an orchestra with strings, woodwinds, percussions and brass, Mr. Wade conducts a plethora of distinct authors but harmonizes them into a single great symphony. Bravo!