Norman George - Author Website

Author Background

Norman George grew up in Northern Ireland through the troubles of the 1960's and 70's. He attended Bangor Grammar School, then studied Genetics and Cell Biology at the University of Manchester, graduating in 1978. After spending a year castrating mosquitoes in the interest of science research, he moved from the World of Science to a career in IT (because that's where all the jobs were!). Although most of his working life was spent managing IT networks, he always maintained a strong interest in natural science, which was reinforced through studying for an Open University degree in Geosciences, in 2006.

Norman had a break from the IT World between 2003 and 2011, a period during which he managed a catered chalet/guesthouse at the foot of Mont Joly in the French Alps. He moved back to the UK in 2008, where he worked as a Science Teacher during 2009 to 2011. Discovering that adolescents are much harder to manage than computers, he resumed his career in IT network management until he retired in 2020.

Life in an Alpine resort in conjunction with his interest in sciences, inspired Norman to write his first novel, "Who Writes the Rules". He wanted to write about scientific topics that impacted human societies, but considered that he would not have sufficient credibility to do this, as he was not a professional scientist. He therefore chose to use a romantic novel, telling the story of a relationship between two people from different cultures, as a vehicle for including scientific discussions. The novel describes the developing relationship in a serious human story about the two protagonists, while including enlightening and thought-provoking discussions about topics affecting all of humanity. His intention was to persuade readers who wouldn't normally pick up a science book, to read discussions on the origins of the Universe and Life, Evolution, Ecology and Climate Change. He started writing this novel in 2007 after completing his Geosciences degree, but had no time to focus on completing it until his retirement. It was published in November 2022.

A spring holiday to Athens, Mykonos and Delos was the principle inspiration for his second novel, Divine Intervention. He was aware of the growing debate about over-tourism, and witnessed the impact of growing numbers of cruise ship passengers. Some of the effects at popular tourist destinations were clearly visible, even though his visit was during low season.

What would the Greek Gods do if they were to witness how their Temples and the archaeological sites of ancient Greece had deteriorated and were now crawling with tourists taking 'selfies'? Divine Intervention tells the story of how Athena brings the Greek Gods back to Athens, to discuss whether they can use 'Divine Intervention' to change their relationship with modern people. In addition to being an interesting story, it is amusing and slightly satirical, with characters based on the personalities of the Gods as told in the original Greek myths. Once again Norman chose to use a novel as a vehicle for introducing discussion of deeper topics, such as basic human nature and some aspects of anthropology relating to the origins of the Greek Gods.