ABOUT THE BOOK

Print Edition
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‘Happy’ Norman, Volume II (1958-1979)
Nuclear Assignments, Caribbean Mishaps and Mid-Life Crises

Keith Norman’s autobiography is a candid account of his extraordinary life.

In Volume II the 30 year old Keith returns to the UK and embarks on a fascinating career as Commercial Director in the UK Atomic Energy Authority. When, after 13 years, the institutional demands get too restrictive, he moves on to be Regional Director for the Caribbean and Central America in the Commonwealth Development Finance Company. Operating from Kingston, Jamaica, he is responsible for investments in a wide variety of industries: commercial properties; an airline; rice farming; pipeline manufacture; hotel management and many others, including a commercial turtle farm!

This experience gives Keith a taste of entrepreneurship and independence and he sets up on his own, taking the first steps along the road to being his own boss, from which he has never deviated. Commercial rose growing in the Dominican Republic, refinancing of a hotel in Santo Domingo, real estate development in Cayman, raising finance and managing a uranium mining startup in Saskatchewan – are just a few of the businesses he is involved in.

A major commitment was to accept the appointment by the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands as Official Liquidator of a local Banking Group, involving three banks and more than 100 operating subsidiary companies ranging, from a cattle breeding farm in Quebec to two inter-island trading vessels.

During this period he applied with passion his knowledge, his usual intense energy and dedication to each challenge. The intensity of his work commitments though, has its price and leads to the breakdown of two marriages. This volume ends with Keith starting his own gold mining company and meeting the love of his life.

​Keith writes as honestly about his failures as he does about his successes, while seeking to analyse his decisions in terms of applying the validity of St. Francis Xavier dictum “Give me the child…and I will give you the man”. Can these decisions be traced back to his early experience in life?
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BOOK DETAILS

Book Details:
  • 312 pages
  • Standard Color
  • 8.5 x 11.0 inches
ISBNs:
  • 978-1-4602-8578-7 eBook
  • 978-1-4602-8577-0 Paperback
  • ​978-1-4602-8576-3 Hardcover
Categories:
  • Biography & Autobiography, Historical
  • Biography & Autobiography, Personal Memoirs
  • ​Biography & Autobiography, Business
Keywords:
Nuclear Power History, UK Nuclear History, Sea Turtle Farming, Cayman Bank History, Mariculture, CDFC, Uranium Mining

BOOK REVIEWS

"I am thoroughly astounded to have found myself immersed with such passion reading about an aspect of the intricacies of the “Financial World” normally unheard of by the general public.  This biography of a man managing, negotiating, and at times, saving financial mishaps and near catastrophes of world Organizations, Banks and International Commercial Enterprises is quite simply spectacular.  What a remarkable man!   What “James Bond” is to the world of Spy Fantasy, Keith Norman is to a real world of International Finance.  This is a page turner and if someone like me who is not normally drawn to the subject of finance could have been captivated from beginning to end by this book, I can only say….what a masterpiece!"
- Françoise Gagne, Educator, Oregon
"​After reading Volume II of "Happy Norman" I can honestly say that I was overwhelmed with the vivid recollections by Keith Norman of his days of involvement with the green sea turtle  ( Chelonia mydas) ; in the operation knows as "Cayman Turtle Farm." This book will serve as a reminder of the first time any organization ever tried to merge "conservation with commerce" and will be the mirror for many future attempts by others to embark upon a similar venture."
- Irvin S. Naylor, Businessman, Maryland