Amherst resident Lawrence Brane Siddall's memoir, "Two Years in Poland and Other Stories," offers sketches of people and places in clear, readable prose that borders on the lyrical at times.

"We could hear the waterfall before we saw it, a gentle sound at first then more demanding and suddenly it was upon us crashing wildly over rocks and dead tree trunks tossing up foam that glittered in the sun light and spraying the ferns that clung to the banks of the stream," he wrote about a hiking trip he took with a Polish family.

The 255-page volume, self-published by Siddall's Pelham Springs Press in Amherst, is divided into three sections. The first and last focus on teaching English to high schoolers in Swidnica, Poland, as a Peace Corps volunteer from 1997 to 1999. The second section details an 11,000-mile trip from Oslo to India that Siddall took in 1956 in a Volkswagen Beetle.

Siddall, who is a photographer, has an eye for details. It's through that lens that we see children eating ice cream or a ribbon in a girl's hair. His photos can seen on his Web site: www.lawrencesiddall.com.

Why leave home for the Peace Corps or any other destination?

"It's my interest in how the rest of the world lives. When you travel you are exposed to other cultures," said Siddall during a recent interview. Siddall is a retired psychotherapist who practiced for 34 years at the Holyoke Mental Health Clinic, at the University of Massachusetts health services in Amherst and Amherst Medical Associates.

The interest in travel and cultures is natural, he says. Siddall was born in China, where his father was a medical missionary; his family moved to Oberlin, Ohio, after his mother died when he was a toddler. To honor her, Siddall uses her maiden name, Brane, as his middle name on the book cover.

Being the only native English speaker in Swidnica, Poland, was a challenge for Siddall, who described learning the language during his Peace Corps training and with two tutors. He includes a pronunciation guide in his book and translates the Polish phrases he used.

Teaching also was a challenge because he had never taught before. He motivated the students, he said, with music and art and having them write about themselves. Their collective thank-you note said, in part, "You told us many exciting things and we know that they weren't only lessons of English, but also lessons of life."

Oslo to India

One of the exciting things he could have shared with students was the journey from Oslo to India in the mid-1950s. Siddall had been stationed in Munich while serving in the U.S. Army and stayed there for another year after his tour ended to study art history at the university. When a former army colleague suggested the trip after his studies ended, Siddall agreed.

This section is a well-written travel guide with people, places, history, food and customs and includes maps that illustrate the route. In a letter he wrote home, he described Baghdad as a frontier town "with many buildings half built and streets half paved."

The trip was not without danger. With no access to English-language newspapers or radio, the two travelers were unaware of the turmoil in the Middle East caused by the 1956 Suez crisis. When they did learn of it, they changed their plans to avoid Jordan and Israel.

"With bombs bursting around the Suez Canal and the Israeli army surging cross the Sinai dessert we set off for Damascus," he wrote.

Siddall also describes a celebrity encounter in the Iranian dessert. When the pair stopped to heat hot water for tea, a Land Rover approached in a cloud of dust and Peter Townsend, the former suitor of England's Princess Margaret, stepped from the vehicle. Since it was so isolated, the men agreed to travel together for a couple of days.

The Beetle trip ended in Delhi, India, where Siddall continued his journey through the country via train and plane. With limited funds, he eventually signed on as a crew member on an American ship, the SS Rebecca, which carried him back to the states.

Siddall's travel advice?

"At any age you need some sense of adventure, the capacity to put up with inconvenience, have patience, curiosity about the country you are going to, the people you will be with, a willingness to learn how other people live, their customs and language."

The book costs $16.95 and is available at local bookshops or at www.lawrencesiddall.com.