This book is an introduction to the life and work of Johannes Gutenberg, the man who invented the printing press. Gutenberg has been called the "Man of the Millennium" by Time-Life Magazine and others. In the mid-15th century he developed the first practical system for making movable type. His invention allowed books to be mass produced for the first time in history. This book contains a wealth of information about Gutenberg and his invention. It has many fascinating photographs and illustrations, including a simplified schematic that shows how Gutenberg made his movable metal type. Today we take books for granted. But before Gutenberg's printing press, books were a luxury only the wealthy could afford. Gutenberg's invention changed our world forever. The ability to reproduce books efficiently and economically launched humanity into a new age of information, education and enlightenment for the masses. This is the story of a remarkable man and his magnificent machine.

Since its first appearance in 1962, the impact of The Gutenberg Galaxy has been felt around the world. It gave us the concept of the global village; that phrase has now been translated, along with the rest of the book, into twelve languages, from Japanese to Serbo-Croat. It helped establish Marshall McLuhan as the original 'media guru.' More than 200,000 copies are in print. The reissue of this landmark book reflects the continuing importance of McLuhan's work for contemporary readers.

Johannes Gutenberg Archimedes once said, "Give me but a firm spot on which to stand and I shall move the earth." Well, Johannes Gutenberg must have been standing on granite because his impact on the world has been earth-shattering. Before his time, books were a rarity, only affordable for the rich or influential. So, in order to make books accessible for everyone, Gutenberg invented a printing press using movable type. Inside you will read about... - Gutenberg's Early Childhood - The Printing Press - Impact of German Movable Type Printing Press - Gutenberg's Books - Later Life and Death And much more! Printing became faster and cheaper. Suddenly books were available everywhere, which led to the lower classes in society learning to read and to write. People were discovering books, but they were unearthing much more than what they were reading. There was an explosion of information, very much like the Information Age of today, which set people on quests for the truth. This would lead to the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment, where fundamental human truths were challenged at every level. And it all started with a book.

Can one invention really change the world? Before the mid-fifteenth century, books were printed by hand, making them rare and expensive. Reading and learning remained a privilege of the wealthy—until Johannes Gutenberg developed a machine called the printing press. Gutenberg, a German metalworker, began in the 1440s by making movable type—small metal letters that were arranged to form words and sentences, replacing handwritten letters. Movable type fit into frames on the printing press, and the press then produced many copies of the same page. As movable type and the printing press made book production much faster and less expensive, reading material of all kinds became available to a far wider audience. In Gutenberg’s time, Europe was already on the brink of a new age—an explosion of world exploration, scientific discoveries, and political and religious changes. Gutenberg’s printing press helped propel Europe into the modern era, and his legacy remains in the thousands of books and newspapers printed each year to keep us informed, entertained, and connected. Indeed, Gutenberg’s development of the printing press became one of history’s pivotal moments.

In 1450, all Europe's books were handcopied and amounted to only a few thousand. By 1500 they were printed, and numbered in their millions. The invention of one man - Johann Gutenberg - had caused a revolution. Printing by movable type was a discovery waiting to happen. Born in 1400 in Mainz, Germany, Gutenberg struggled against a background of plague and religious upheaval to bring his remarkable invention to light. His story is full of paradox: his ambition was to reunite all Christendom, but his invention shattered it; he aimed to make a fortune, but was cruelly denied the fruits of his life's work. Yet history remembers him as a visionary; his discovery marks the beginning of the modern world.

Around 1400, in the city of Mainz, a man was born whose heretical invention was to change history. Some sixty years later he died — robbed of his business, his printing presses, and, so he thought, his immortality. In his dazzling first novel, Morrison gives us Gutenberg’s “testament” — his justification, dictated to one of the young scribes his invention will soon put out of work. Thus Morrison conjures up the haunting figure of Gutenberg himself: a man who gambled everything — money, honour, friendship and a woman’s love — on the greatest invention of the last millennium.

This title examines the remarkable life of Johannes Gutenberg and his innovation of the printing press. Readers will learn about Gutenberg's background and education, as well as his creation of the Gutenberg Bible for the Catholic Church. Color photos, detailed maps, and informative sidebars accompany easy-to-read, compelling text. Features include a timeline, facts, additional resources, web sites, a glossary, a bibliography, and an index. Publishing Pioneers is a series in Essential Library, an imprint of ABDO Publishing Company.