In Circular Passage, Robert V. Hardy shares both the tender parts of adventure and the near misses of tragedy in this endearing, funny, and truly awe inspiring memoir of his travels. Twenty-four and filled with wanderlust and naivete, Hardy goes the extra mile in defining survival, resilience-and luck. His is the story of two expeditions, one the inner voyage of the soul, the other the globe-trotting journey from his native Oregon through Europe, the Middle East, and across Asia to way Down Under. He stakes a claim on life, forging a wide path that few would choose. He is a man obsessed with the romance of the world, and he abandons a promising job, a girlfriend, and his mystified family to seek something he can't even define. In time, the hard essence of reality wears him down, until at last, he knows it is time to come home, back to the beginning, closing the circle."