Spiritual and humanitarian leader Radhanath Swami, author of the recently published book “The Journey Home,” will make speaking appearances in Redmond and Sammamish this week.

From 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 12, Swami will be featured at a book-signing event at Soul Food Books, 15748 Redmond Way in downtown Redmond.

From 7-9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14, Swami will appear at the Vedic Cultural Center, 1420 228th Ave. SE in Sammamish.

“The Journey Home” is based on human and spiritual experiences from travel across the world.

According to a press release, as a young countercultural American teenager, Swami left a promising career to hitchhike around the world. Convinced from his travels that the fundamental problems of society are caused by basic human frailties, irrespective of race, nationality, gender or economic status, he decided to dedicate his life to solving problems through advancement of human consciousness.

Swami helped to build a hospital in Mumbai, India that provides low-cost and free holistic health care, as well an orphanage, free vision camps that have removed cataracts for thousands of patients, a hospice and more.

For information about Radhanath Swami, visit http://radhanathswami.com/books/ or http://radhanathswami.com/media/.