The Boston Book Festival, which took place October 16, 2010, put on some exceptional panel discussions. One of the most interesting featured four folks who individually could have taken up all the time on their own. The discussion was emceed by Callie Crossley, host of WGBH Radio’s Callie Crossley Show.

The panelists:

Steven Johnson is the author of Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life, The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic–and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World, The Invention of Air: A Story Of Science, Faith, Revolution, and The Birth Of America and, most recently, Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation.

Atul Gawande is a surgeon and the author of Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science, Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance, and most recently The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right.

David Edwards is the author of Burning All Illusions: A Guide to Personal and Political Freedom, The Compassionate Revolution, Artscience: Creativity in the Post-Google Generation, and most recently The Lab: Creativity and Culture.

Neri Oxman, one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People. “In the MIT Media Lab’s basement workshop sits a machine that can slice human bone instantly using a blast of water mixed with garnet dust. It’s Neri Oxman’s favorite. ‘The laser cutter is very feminine, elegant. The water-jet cutter is very masculine. It cuts anything. To be here at 2 a.m. all by myself — it’s really exciting!’ This laughing, chic young woman in a flowing Helmut Lang jacket is an artist, architect, ecologist, computer scientist, and designer who is not just making new things but also coming up with new ways to make things.”

To watch this lively and informative video, please click here.