Edward Averill began contemplating the purpose of human life when he was only a child. He was educated in the United Kingdom within private and public schools. He graduated from Cambridge University in 1947 with a degree in natural science and geology, and spent four years on geological and geophysical teams in the Middle East and West Africa before passing his PhD orals in geology at McGill University in 1954. Then in 1955, being highly attracted to computing, he jumped career ship to begin forty-years in system and software engineering. After retirement, he used his extensive background to actively research human life and its purpose, to spend some twelve years writing Living a Human Life.