Doris Ober

Selected Work

Memoir
The Dogtown Chronicles, Our Life and Times with Sheep, Goats, Llamas, and Other Creatures
A middle-aged couple of escaped New Yorkers become shepherds in the rural outpost of West Marin California, and learn much about life—and about death—from the experience.
Prose, Poetry, and Art
West Marin Review
managing editor
A literary/art journal with works by locals and visitors to this very special northern California community. Blair Fuller, Joanne Kyger, Linda Pastan, Philip Fradkin, Terry Tempest Williams are some of the better known contributors to Volume 2.
English/Spanish Language
Thousands of Words You Already Know in Spanish: 3024 Common, Useful, Spanish Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives already in Your Vocabulary
with Richard Kirschman
“It says, Go ahead, give this language a try; you’ve already got the vocabulary.”
--San Francisco Chronicle
Nonfiction
Finding Hope When a Child Dies: What Other Cultures Can Teach Us
with Sukie Miller, Ph.D.
“This is the best book on parental grief that I have seen.”
--Seattle Times
Portraits
Sometimes My Heart Goes Numb: Love and Caregiving in a Time of AIDS
with Charles Garfield and Cindy Spring
“An extremely valuable source of information.... Your heart will be touched and your mind opened.”
--Bernie Siegel, M.D., author of Love, Medicine, and Miracles

Thousands of Words You Already Know in Spanish: 3024 Common, Useful, Spanish Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives Already in Your Vocabulary

with Richard Kirschman

If you thought that learning Spanish would be too difficult, then think again! Here are over three thousand words you already know in Spanish. They are words that are exactly like the English in spelling and meaning, or they are words so similar to the English, that if you guessed their spelling or meaning, you would be right--or at least you would be close enough to be understood.

The key to learning any new language is not in memorizing grammar or new words; they key is in understanding and being understood. And how much easier it is to be both when you already know so many Spanish words.

This little book does not teach you how to make sentences in Spanish, but it does make you aware that you already have a good Spanish vocabulary, and it will teach you something about what English and Spanish have in common. To help, we have divided the words you already know into seven major categories...

These categories illustrate the most obvious relationships between some Spanish and English words, for instance that tion in English becomes ción in Spanish (as in anticipation and anticipación) or that words that end in y in English may be the same word in Spanish that ends in ia (like memory and memoria)...

No matter how you choose to learn Spanish--whether in school, at home, on the job, or with language tapes--this book will serve as your companion-text, to always remind you that you already know more than three thousand words!

(The book is also titled, Miles De Palabras Que Usted Ya Conoce En Ingles: 3024 nombres, verbos y adjetivos en inglés, de uso común y útil, que usted ya tiene en su vocabulario. All pages can be read by Spanish-speakers learning English as well as English-speakers learning Spanish.)