Al-Battani Shield: Counteracting Global Warming: A New Approach [Paperback]

Inayatullah Ibrahim Lalani (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 23, 2009

Is the earth's climate really heating up? Are humans really responsible for the coming climatic disaster? Is there such a thing as a "tipping point" after which the climate warming will run an inexorable course culminating in an utter disaster of incalculable magnitude? Will the rising sea levels from the melting of Arctic and Antarctic ice and other sources of permafrost inundate large tracts of land, destroying cities and other major population centers? Will there be a great increase in the frequency and intensity of cyclones, hurricanes, and typhoons? Will there be widespread droughts, mass starvation, pestilence and resulting wars? Will, in the end, life on Earth cease to exist? These are some of the things about which our leaders are warning us.

Or, are we going to experience another Ice Age with equally unpleasant catastrophe? If humans are responsible, how exactly have we brought this upon ourselves? Most importantly, can we do anything to remedy past and current mistakes and stave off the calamity? What steps are politically and economically possible? And are there any other reasonable, alternative ways we can hold the climatic status quo which have not been thought of yet but need to be?

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Born in India, Inayatullah Ibrahim Lalani has lived in the United States for almost five decades. Trained as a general surgeon, he received certification from the American Board of Surgery in 1970. Now retired, this is his first serious written work.

Product Details

• Paperback: 140 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (November 23, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1440180024
• ISBN-13: 978-1440180026
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,737,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Physician by training and vocation but retired several years from clinical practice, Lalani is also an amateur astronomer and has maintained lively interest in all branches of science, especially physical sciences as well as in history, politics and all human affairs in the broadest sense of words. His motto is 'Man is the Measure of All Things', an aphorism ascribed to Protagoras, the fifth century B.C. Athenian philosopher.
Lalani's interest in the issue of global climate was piqued some 12 years before publication of 'Al-Battani Shield' and grew apace with intensifying public debate about the environment since then. Retirement from clinical practice afforded him the opportunity to pursue serious study of climatology, a pursuit that has left him somewhat ambivalent about the veracity of the claims, both of the climate change alarmists and the deniers of those claims alike. But Lalani is not ambivalent about the need for pre-emptive and precautionary measures advocated by those who are more firmly persuaded of the impending danger to the health of the planet, not the least because defaulting on taking corrective steps could prove calamitous should the climate change alarmists prove right. In fact he wrote 'Al-Battani Shield' to introduce a new approach to countering global warming. For that reason, too, he finds himself in alliance with Al Gore and company.
When his original proposal of a space based sun barrier to curtail incoming solar radiation, first articulated in a letter to the Editor of The Atlantic Monthly (April 1998) failed to receive significant traction, he decided to write this full length (but small) book in the hope of getting the attention of the policy wonks, opinion makers and specialists in climate science and technology, in short all those charged with the stewardship of our environment.
Currently he is writing two more works of non-fiction and one fiction.
Lalani came to the US in 1963 from India where he was born, raised and got his basic medical education. He was certified in the specialty of surgery in 1970 and practiced for three decades before retiring. He has been married to the former Salma Currimbhoy of Mumbai for almost thirty eight years and lives in Fort Worth, Texas area. He is father of two grown children and a grandfather of three. He writes opinion columns on disparate subjects and is also a political activist, involved in motivating minorities to participate in American democratic political system.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fresh solution, September 1, 2010

By 

Abdool Razack (texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Al-Battani Shield: Counteracting Global Warming: A New Approach (Paperback)

Global warming has been very much in the news lately, and rightly so. This is a very complex problem. The solutions are equally complex and have a direct influence on the way they impact our environment. Some developing nations see the solutions as threatening their advancement.
Dr Lalani has outlined this complex problem in a relatively simple manner, easy to read and comprehend. He has proposed a solution that is costly and extremely technical but not insurmountable. The effect of the shield would hardly be noticeable by the public at large, but if it proves to be detrimental could easily discontinued.
His grasp of the various disciplines necessary to present his treatise is breathtaking. This book, like "An Inconvenient Truth",is a landmark in understanding this complex problem, and would be an excellent reference for anyone who is interested in this topic.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Shield in Space, February 24, 2010

By 

John K. Taylor - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Al-Battani Shield: Counteracting Global Warming: A New Approach (Paperback)

Dr. Inayat Lalani has written a charming, informative and interesting little book about the earth's climate and how human and natural processes effect it. Titled Al-Battani Shield (Al-Battani, or Albategnius as he is known in the West, was the Tenth Century Arab astronomer who first calculated the precise length of the solar year), the main text is only 84 pages long, but there are four very interesting appendices and an index (Thank goodness!) which make the total length 121 pages.

Lalani accepts global warming as fact due primarily to the "reckless squandering of...fossil fuel resources" and the resulting release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. He also observes that humankind's burning of oil, natural gas and coal has only brought prosperity to 15% of the earth's population while the remaining 85% is trying to reach the West's (and Japan's) standard of living.

Given the developing world's quest for the "good life," Lalani recognizes, correctly I believe, that any conservation efforts in the West, assuming such measures are actually successful, will be more than offset by the Third World's greater utilization of the earth's resources.

With the inevitable increase in greenhouse gases comes the possibility that the very special natural circumstances that have permitted life to develop on earth may be disturbed in catastrophic ways. Lalani proposes to limit global warming by placing a shield in space in an orbit paralleling our own to reduce the amount of sun light which reaches the earth's surface. A very interesting solution indeed!

A few minor quibbles: The short note at the beginning of a book is a "Foreword," not a "Forward". Lalani speaks of "Horse winds" (page 34) when he means "Horse Latitudes." The author has confused the Flavians (page 92), the late First Century AD Roman Emperors Vespasian, Titus and Domitian, with Constantine the Great and his family (Fourth Century).

5.0 out of 5 stars Quick read, September 3, 2010

By 

Zeek09 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Al-Battani Shield: Counteracting Global Warming: A New Approach (Paperback)

Lalani offers a quick and easy to understand book on areas of concern in the realm of climate change. Definitely worth reading for anyone without a science background who wants to consider every angle of the climate change debate.