How much freedom does a man need?

Three times during his twenties Patrick O'Neil threw in a desk job, ended relationships and flung himself at the world. With the words of his literary heroes ringing in his ears, he set off determined to pursue adventure and a grander, more romantic vision of life.

It wasn't long before O'Neil was tumbling in and out of absurd predicaments and genuine danger. His sometimes foolhardy quest for raw experience found him in the clutches of lawless military cops in Rio, staring down armed Jamaican gangstas, and hiding from murderous cowboys in a lonely Mexican outpost – or was that last encounter just a figment of his peyote-fired imagination?

Despite frequent peril on the road – not least in New York, where he came between an obsessive-compulsive housemate and his paper towels – O'Neil found like minds, inspiration and enlightenment.

Tripping from the Sahara Desert to the Amazonian jungle, Sideways reveals that the way forward isn't always straight ahead.