You know Ira Flatow as host of Science Friday on NPR. I don't often get to listen "live" because the broadcasts occur while I am (supposed to be) working, but I subscribe to the podcasts and catch up on them later from an RSS feed. "Present at the Future" is a collection of essays inspired by conversations with recent guests on the show, and it is written from the point of view that Ira (I call him Ira because I met him once and am therefore entitled) brings to his program - that of an interested and well-read layman. The topics in the book are all over the map - nanotechnology to wind power, and cognitive science to why an airplane flies (not the Bernoulli explanation). The book is as eclectic as the radio show. You will surely find something of interest in it, and it would be appropriate to recommend to students.