Praise for Bedside Manners

“I have finally read your wonderful book, Bedside Manners. Like your work we’ve published in the BLR, the book is beautifully written and moving, almost a continuous prose poem. I especially loved the ending paragraphs and story, the letting go. This echoes what you do as a doctor in the book—and what we all do in life. I also admired how you inserted yourself, both in the admirable and darker emotions, in the work. So many of the stories/essays were favorites of mine, the characters always so vivid.”—Ronna Weinberg, Bellevue Literary Review

“In candid, poetic prose, a doctor explores the instant, profound human interaction between patients and physicians. You'll wish your doctor were half as attentive.”—Newsweek, Pick of the Week

“Even the most routine medical checkup will never be quite the same after you've read David Watts's Bedside Manners. Watts's sympathy for both physicians and their patients subtly changes our understanding of what it means to heal and be healed, and to put our trust in the hands of a practitioner who is just as complex, flawed--and human--as we are.”—Francine Prose in O, The Oprah Magazine

“Watts has a sensitive ear and a poetic pen. . . Written with humility and at times intense candor, Watts' vignettes convey what it means at the deepest level to be a caring clinician. . . we see the sometimes startling psychological forces at work.”—JAMA

“We learn that this caring doctor doesn't believe in shielding anyone from either the pathos or the glories of life; not himself, not his own little boy, and certainly not us, the readers.”—Diversion

“Always sensitive, sometimes hilarious, [Bedside Manners] provides a window into what our physicians think of us and is likely to be a big seller.”—Alison Biggar in San Francisco Chronicle

Praise for Taking the History

“The sorrow of loss and the catharsis of writing about it taught [Watts] that the healing power of poetry was not just an abstraction but a balm he could apply to himself.”—Paul Lieberatore in Marin Independent Journal

“Dr. Watts is a fine poet. I am so glad to meet his words.”—Robert Coles, M.D.

“These poems move easily between the mysteries of the body and the mysteries of the poem. The poet's voice is one the reader can trust implicitly—dark or light. With metaphors both skillful and provocative David Watts not only asks questions of the body, but in the making of these fine poems, obtains some of the answers.”—John Stone, M.D.

Praise for The Orange Wire Problem

“This book is a masterpiece that will entertain, educate, and inspire. The stories are filled with suspense and captivating detail that compels one to keep reading, to reflect, and in the process become more aware.”—Mariellen Relber in Family Medicine

“He does not back away from sharing his own emotions, whether he is dealing with a patient's insurance company or talking to the physician taking care of his own dying mother. Bravery is one of the virtues we don't often talk about in medicine, but it takes a special sort of courage to be present with a patient's pain, to hold the experience long enough to examine it, and then to bear one's soul in the commentary on the truth. This is a book that aspires to be not only brave, but wise.”—Lara Hazelton in Canadian Medical Association Journal

“Forget about professional distance. Physician David Watts talks to his patients about love and pain (often indistinguishable), about mortality and the crying need for 'the soft animal of the body.' Take a dose of philosophy, buffered by humanity, and call him in the morning.”—Dathleen Medwick in O, The Oprah Magazine

“Watts does not spare himself in his willingness to reveal his own fear, sadness, uncertainty and wonder. In this way, he provides a gift to the lay reader who may find it interesting to reflect on the internal experience of physicians who strive and care, who hurt and love in the process of their work.”—Susan Arjmand, MD in JAMA

“Just as his son releases burst of soap bubbles, filling the air with love and good will for his mother to walk through on her way to a weekend of work, so too does the author release his words to the public, secure that the reader can return, whenever she chooses, to examine twenty-six microcosms and the stories therein.”—Audrey Shafer, MD in The Pharos

“Watts charmingly reveals the challenges of both doctor and patient in thought-provoking essays (bio-vignettes) that you can't put down or easily forget.”—Lynn Henriksen in Red Room