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Gutenberg the Geek
Johannes Gutenberg was our first geek, the original technology entrepreneur, who had to grapple with all the challenges a Silicon Valley startup faces today. Jeff Jarvis tells Gutenberg's story from an entrepreneurial perspective, examining how he overcame technology hurdles, how he operated with the secrecy of a Steve Jobs but then shifted to openness, how he raised capital and mitigated risk, and how, in the end, his cash flow and equity structure did him in. This is also the inspiring story of a great disruptor. That is what makes Gutenberg the patron saint of entrepreneurs.
20 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 2012
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591 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Jarvis
21 books132 followersJeff Jarvis is an American journalist writing for publications such as New York Daily News, the San Francisco Examiner, and The Guardian. In 2006 he became an associate professor at City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism, directing its new media program. He is a co-host on This Week in Google, a show on the TWiT Network.
Picture by Robert Scoble
Picture by Robert Scoble
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews
February 13, 2016
I don't think ANY of the other books I have read on Gutenberg has infuriated me like this one. Firstly, to compare what Gutenberg did to dot coms and Silicon Valley is ridiculous. It's only been a few years and no one talks about or cares about them any more and Gutenberg created something that changed the world and has endured for centuries, not forgotten five minutes later. Then to compare him to Steve Jobs, how insulting. Yes, they where both secretive men, but Fust, the man who stole Gutenberg's work and claimed it as his own while leaving Gutenberg in the dust is the Jobs of this situation. No work, all credit, that is Steve Jobs. Then going on to say that Gutenberg went "open source" with his work (which I don't agree). But still at this point you can NEVER compare him to Jobs. No matter how long Jobs might have lived he would never have given up his secrets never gone open source.
Also, the quote "It is not, in my view, a medium but instead a connection machine." WTF do you think a medium is? Because, one definition is your awkwardly worded "connection machine."
But, oh wait... it gets better, because guess what? This book was all a pitch for us to buy his other book Public Parts! Tirade about freedom... yadda yadda. If you're so into open source and freedom, then just give me that book because I shouldn't have to pay $10.80 on Amazon for it. In fact, I want my money back for this. It wasn't worth the $0.99 I paid. SO pissed me off I actually published this review to Amazon!
One star for mentioning Philo Farnsworth, otherwise no stars.
Also, the quote "It is not, in my view, a medium but instead a connection machine." WTF do you think a medium is? Because, one definition is your awkwardly worded "connection machine."
But, oh wait... it gets better, because guess what? This book was all a pitch for us to buy his other book Public Parts! Tirade about freedom... yadda yadda. If you're so into open source and freedom, then just give me that book because I shouldn't have to pay $10.80 on Amazon for it. In fact, I want my money back for this. It wasn't worth the $0.99 I paid. SO pissed me off I actually published this review to Amazon!
One star for mentioning Philo Farnsworth, otherwise no stars.
July 15, 2017
I am giving this book just two stars for being an okay story, because that's how I feel about it. Why do I feel this way? I'll tell you. . .
For one thing, it felt like I started this book in the middle - or at the end! - of an ongoing story. I actually flipped back to the previous page in my Kindle app to see if I had accidentally clicked too many times to get to the start! But I didn't; that was where this book began.
Here is this book's opening paragraph:
This book was not very long - only 20 or so pages, I think - but I needed a nap partway through it. (On maybe page 15?) It was not written in a way that I found engaging enough to read in one sitting. :-(
So those are the two reasons I feel that this is just an okay book. I'd give it fewer stars, but I did learn something in between my confusion and my nap: Gutenberg invented the printing press, but then lost it when he defaulted on the business loan that had helped him invent it. Reading about what happened after he defaulted on the loan was interesting, just not very intriguing or engaging.
In sum, this book was interesting, but dull and confusing. I was not a fan. So. . .just two stars for this story.
For one thing, it felt like I started this book in the middle - or at the end! - of an ongoing story. I actually flipped back to the previous page in my Kindle app to see if I had accidentally clicked too many times to get to the start! But I didn't; that was where this book began.
Here is this book's opening paragraph:
In the end, it was his cash flow and equity structure that did him in. After pivoting from one business to another, solving myriad technology problems with keen insight, recruiting a team, raising capital, perfecting his product through secret alphas and public betas, launching his business, finding customers, and earning revenue, the founder's main investor called in his loan and, in a nasty legal battle, took possession of most of the company's assets.These first two sentences confused me and set me up for a real struggle as I read this book. :-(
This book was not very long - only 20 or so pages, I think - but I needed a nap partway through it. (On maybe page 15?) It was not written in a way that I found engaging enough to read in one sitting. :-(
So those are the two reasons I feel that this is just an okay book. I'd give it fewer stars, but I did learn something in between my confusion and my nap: Gutenberg invented the printing press, but then lost it when he defaulted on the business loan that had helped him invent it. Reading about what happened after he defaulted on the loan was interesting, just not very intriguing or engaging.
In sum, this book was interesting, but dull and confusing. I was not a fan. So. . .just two stars for this story.
June 8, 2015
This is a really nice short overview of Gutenberg's achievements and the impact his inventions had and still have.
Starting with Gutenberg's history and some details of his inventions Jarvis goes on to liken him to inventors and successful business ideas of our time.
He even manages to give an overview of the parallels of the inventions of the printing press and the Internet while quoting McLuhan and Eisenstein (two of the most important scholars in that field) - and all of it in a bit more than half an hour if you listen to the audio book!
A great introduction to the topic of the printing press and it's impact on modern society!
Starting with Gutenberg's history and some details of his inventions Jarvis goes on to liken him to inventors and successful business ideas of our time.
He even manages to give an overview of the parallels of the inventions of the printing press and the Internet while quoting McLuhan and Eisenstein (two of the most important scholars in that field) - and all of it in a bit more than half an hour if you listen to the audio book!
A great introduction to the topic of the printing press and it's impact on modern society!
July 16, 2015
The book,more like an article,was quite informative. It also made some interesting analogies. The language was so dull and the style so boring. Getting a good amount of facts from such a few pages seems quite economical if you are ready to blind yourself to the language and style.
July 19, 2015
I think I would like this more if I was a tech geek. I'm not. Jarvis does seem to make his case, but I wanted more straight forward history.
If you like computers, you should like it.
If you like computers, you should like it.
January 30, 2021
This is a very unimpressive book which does a bad job of making the pretty mainstream argument that the Gutenberg press was an information revolution in the same way that computing and the Internet have been. (Speech, Writing, Gutenberg Press, Telegraph, Telephone, Radio, Television, Computing, Internet are probably the big ones, with Speech, Writing, Gutenberg Press, Telegraph, Television, and Internet probably being the biggest ones in terms of shaping society). Draws parallels between Gutenberg's business and how startups work in Silicon Valley (investors, disputes, etc.), but that's really common to any new-stage venture, not specific to an information-revolution enabler. The more specific the comparison to individual Silicon Valley people and businesses, the dumber the book got.
Mercifully short, though.
Mercifully short, though.
February 10, 2023
Short historical memoir of the very underrated Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press; possibly the most key device that let to our information era happen; with narrations in comparison to current entrepreneurship culture, network effects, industrialization, information exchange, and so much more, all packed into 20 pages or so!
Underrated read, would recommend!
Underrated read, would recommend!
January 13, 2013
Nearly everyone knows the name Johannes Gutenberg. What you don't know about him is what makes this book so fascinating.
This book will entertain and inform anyone interested in history. Additionally, author Jeff Jarvis tells Gutenberg's story in terms readily understood by today's entrepreneur and inventor -- capital formation, technology challenge, personnel management, intellectual property protection, contract formation. No stretch of imagination is required on the reader's part, but the author's insight into the parallels is clever indeed.
Jarvis' historical research discovered Gutenberg's resourcefulness at raising capital (initially by making hand-held mirrors to sell to religious pilgrims). It also uncovered a six-century old court case wherein Gutenberg lost control of his invention to an unscrupulous investor. These historical facts are largely compiled from the author's extensive reading on the subject. The value-added is his consolidation of the story in a manner that is entertaining, informative, relevant and inspiring to entrepreneurs and history buffs today.
Also of interest is the author's comparison of the historical events of the Gutenberg's day to the Eurozone financial crisis today. Excessive municipal debt, forced austerity by bondholders, and religious and secular conflict are all present in Gutenberg's hometown of Mainz, Germany in the 15th century as they are across Europe today. Truly the more things change the more they stay the same.
The book wraps up with some comparisons between the social disruptions enabled by Gutenberg's invention and the Internet today. I found these comparisons a bit excessive. Not that the Internet is not a vastly disruptive technology with as-yet unimagined consequences, but that the brilliance and artistry of Johannes Gutenberg, one man working under very difficult conditions, does not compare well to the enormous infrastructure based on thousands of inventions (semiconductors, fiber optics, programming languages, satellite communications, etc.) that is the Internet.
I rate this book four stars, with one deducted over the digression into the Internet, which adds little value to what otherwise is an outstanding if short biography.
This book will entertain and inform anyone interested in history. Additionally, author Jeff Jarvis tells Gutenberg's story in terms readily understood by today's entrepreneur and inventor -- capital formation, technology challenge, personnel management, intellectual property protection, contract formation. No stretch of imagination is required on the reader's part, but the author's insight into the parallels is clever indeed.
Jarvis' historical research discovered Gutenberg's resourcefulness at raising capital (initially by making hand-held mirrors to sell to religious pilgrims). It also uncovered a six-century old court case wherein Gutenberg lost control of his invention to an unscrupulous investor. These historical facts are largely compiled from the author's extensive reading on the subject. The value-added is his consolidation of the story in a manner that is entertaining, informative, relevant and inspiring to entrepreneurs and history buffs today.
Also of interest is the author's comparison of the historical events of the Gutenberg's day to the Eurozone financial crisis today. Excessive municipal debt, forced austerity by bondholders, and religious and secular conflict are all present in Gutenberg's hometown of Mainz, Germany in the 15th century as they are across Europe today. Truly the more things change the more they stay the same.
The book wraps up with some comparisons between the social disruptions enabled by Gutenberg's invention and the Internet today. I found these comparisons a bit excessive. Not that the Internet is not a vastly disruptive technology with as-yet unimagined consequences, but that the brilliance and artistry of Johannes Gutenberg, one man working under very difficult conditions, does not compare well to the enormous infrastructure based on thousands of inventions (semiconductors, fiber optics, programming languages, satellite communications, etc.) that is the Internet.
I rate this book four stars, with one deducted over the digression into the Internet, which adds little value to what otherwise is an outstanding if short biography.
May 4, 2012
This short book (more of an essay, really) was sold as an Amazon single. I got it because I have been thinking about the premise that seeing how printing changed the world in the 15th century can help us understand how the Internet is changing our world in the 21st century. Jarvis gets into this by postulating that Gutenberg can be understood as an early version of a Silicon Valley Start-Up. This is an interesting take since I never thought of it in exactly those terms before.
My own thinking has been along the lines of how we communicate is changing. Before printing, communication was essentially limited to one person talking to one other person (or maybe a small group of other people.) After printing we get one person talking to a mass market. As literacy and technology changed the size of that mass market increased, but not the character of the communication model. Radio, television, and movies were simply refinements of this model, but not essentially different. The Internet changed this, and many of the fights we see about copyrights, net neutrality, and even things as mundane as asymmetric bandwidth are just examples of the "broadcast" industries (i.e. print, radio, television, movies) trying to keep their model of the world going and stop the new model of many-to-many communication from coming into being. I think they will fail, but they can do a lot of damage along the way.
Jarvis mention Elizabeth Eisenstein as a resource, and rightly so, but he does not seem to have used her book "The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe". It is still on my "To be read" list, but I am told it is an important work on this topic.
My own thinking has been along the lines of how we communicate is changing. Before printing, communication was essentially limited to one person talking to one other person (or maybe a small group of other people.) After printing we get one person talking to a mass market. As literacy and technology changed the size of that mass market increased, but not the character of the communication model. Radio, television, and movies were simply refinements of this model, but not essentially different. The Internet changed this, and many of the fights we see about copyrights, net neutrality, and even things as mundane as asymmetric bandwidth are just examples of the "broadcast" industries (i.e. print, radio, television, movies) trying to keep their model of the world going and stop the new model of many-to-many communication from coming into being. I think they will fail, but they can do a lot of damage along the way.
Jarvis mention Elizabeth Eisenstein as a resource, and rightly so, but he does not seem to have used her book "The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe". It is still on my "To be read" list, but I am told it is an important work on this topic.
May 5, 2014
I'll be the first to admit this book wasn't the most well written thing I've ever read, but I liked it nonetheless. Of course I knew the basic story of Gutenberg, but Gutenberg the Geek encouraged me to look at him as not only an inventor, but also an entrepreneur. It gave an excellent, short overview of the creation of the press while showing Gutenberg in a somewhat different light. I also learned that the reason the printing press blew up around the world is because Gutenberg essentially made it open source out of spite, teaching everyone who wanted to know how to use the press so that his competitors didn't have a monopoly. The book was a little too enthusiastic about comparing the printing press to the internet and in comparing Gutenberg to Steve Jobs. I got it the first time; Jarvis didn't need to slam it down my throat. Other than that though it was quite enjoyable, and very short. It's definitely worth the half hour or less it would take to read the book.
January 2, 2014
I usually find the pundits of the net to be insufferable self-promoters, but in this instance Jarvis has delivered a well written piece on historical technology, but assigned it with a modern day pundit's view, while at the same time leaving himself out of it.
This is only the second kindle single I have read, but I very much appreciate the long form read in the :30-:60 read time package. The quality of the two singles is making me think that perhaps the long form novel (I.e. 600+ pages) is in trouble when living in the world of instant book downloads. Excessive choice makes time more of a commodity, and Jarvis delivered enough to peak interest in a topic, but doesn't cause me to try and suffer through 500 pages of historical narrative, the length of which is rooted in an author being pressed to fill pages.
This is only the second kindle single I have read, but I very much appreciate the long form read in the :30-:60 read time package. The quality of the two singles is making me think that perhaps the long form novel (I.e. 600+ pages) is in trouble when living in the world of instant book downloads. Excessive choice makes time more of a commodity, and Jarvis delivered enough to peak interest in a topic, but doesn't cause me to try and suffer through 500 pages of historical narrative, the length of which is rooted in an author being pressed to fill pages.
August 30, 2012
This Kindle Single is a very quick read. Whether you call Gutenberg a "geek," a start-up entrepreneur, or a great innovator, his invention of the printing press was a revolutionary technological development that changed the world. This little book gives the reader an overview of the historical context and Gutenberg's process. The author approaches this from an entrepreneurial perspective, showing the challenges Gutenberg faced, how his competitor gained control of much of his work, and how Gutenberg responded with a more open process that made printing widely available. He continually compares Gutenberg and his time to the technological developments of our time. Informative and thought-provoking.
March 5, 2012
Great, quick read that is thought provoking...I am still thinking about the image of "The Gutenberg Parentheses" ...I highly recommend this...The only bad thing about this piece is the last two or three paragraphs that are promoting a free and open internet. I am all for a free and open internet; however, the point of the rest of the piece is an examination of similarities between the creation of Gutenberg's Press and modernity's technological advances...
July 12, 2012
Not very long or interesting. The wikipedia article on Gutenberg with the occasional "just like Steve Jobs!" inserted for effect. It felt like an attemt to shoehorn Gutenberg into the role of a Silicon Valley entrepeneur, without any real reason other than the aliteration in the title.
May 23, 2015
Gutenberg as the ur-entrepeneur. Interesting to read about Gutenberg's life, but this book came with progressivist baggage that I was less excited about. Luckily, this is an extremely short book, so...
February 12, 2021
For some reason, I have developed an appetite for short audiobooks. By short, I mean books l can finish in under an hour. What I have found is that these books are either very good or very bad. There is no in between. The story of the Gutenberg press is narrated superbly and constructed well. I like how the writer compared the financial challenges Gutenberg faced with building the printing press business in Silicon Valley terms. It was clever. It was concise. The writing was well done.
June 30, 2021
This was OK in that I got a bit more of Gutenberg's story in a short amount of time, and while I don't disagree with his thesis in the subtitle "History's First Technology Entrepeneur and Silicon Valley's Patron Saint," it is a typical techno sycophant's ramblings that eulogizes people like Zuckerberg and Musk. All in all, a short read (less than 25 minutes) that could use a grand dose of objectivity and far less starry-eyed love for Silicon Valley and its "names."
November 13, 2021
A Big Disappointment
After complaining that there isn't much to write about Gutenberg,Jeff Jarvis proceeds to....not write much about Gutenverg. I was after an explanation of how Gutenberg conceived of his invention and how he first went about creating it, and....got neither. I will admit that thus is a welk-written book with a basic explanation of Gutenbetg's life, but I feel like it was a waste of my time due to lack of the deeper story.
After complaining that there isn't much to write about Gutenberg,Jeff Jarvis proceeds to....not write much about Gutenverg. I was after an explanation of how Gutenberg conceived of his invention and how he first went about creating it, and....got neither. I will admit that thus is a welk-written book with a basic explanation of Gutenbetg's life, but I feel like it was a waste of my time due to lack of the deeper story.
December 19, 2017
An interesting account of Gutenberg's invention of the printing press and its similarities with the current Internet age. A very easy and fun read, not necessarily thorough, but good enough to give a better idea of the impact and the struggles of Gutenberg's venture and the possibilities of the world we live in today.
January 3, 2018
A great short read that connects core principles of Gutenberg's successes (or failures) to lessons that could inform modern start up and business culture.
Jeff is one of my favorite business writers and he takes his no nonsense approach to writing to this great dialect between historic and modern contexts.
Jeff is one of my favorite business writers and he takes his no nonsense approach to writing to this great dialect between historic and modern contexts.
December 28, 2018
Interesting comparisons with the tech industry and venture capital. Also I didn't realise his machine was "stolen" by two of his funders when one partner died. The writing is a bit plain, but the references and facts have been checked out by the author. I started this month's ago and didn't realise I had a chapter left.
April 4, 2022
Hörbuch und Englisch war bisschen zu viel, um alles aufzunehmen, so gut kann ich beides nicht ...
Trotzdem schon Mal: sehr eindrucksvoll zusammengefasst; spannend fand ich auch die Bezugnahme zur Revolution Internet und deren bis hierhin größten Beteiligten.
Bei Gelegenheit sollte ein zweiter Durchgang folgen – mit mehr Konzentration
Trotzdem schon Mal: sehr eindrucksvoll zusammengefasst; spannend fand ich auch die Bezugnahme zur Revolution Internet und deren bis hierhin größten Beteiligten.
Bei Gelegenheit sollte ein zweiter Durchgang folgen – mit mehr Konzentration
May 9, 2017
It's a magazine-ish length read. Interesting and worth it, but Jarvis is a journalist and tilts toward hyperbole. I'd prefer a more academic style than opening with 'It was his Cap Table that did him in'. He never explains how finance differed between then and now to establish that claim.
October 5, 2018
Good comparison of 1400s with current times.
January 3, 2018
Great Book
I really enjoyed reading this book. It made me think about some things I had not thought about. I recommend it.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It made me think about some things I had not thought about. I recommend it.
August 29, 2018
September 12, 2020
An interesting and quick look at Gutenberg, although the parallels to modern events and technological innovation - while not irrelevant - were kind of far-fetched to me.
December 12, 2021
Pretty informational if you want a brief introduction to the life and entrepreneurial journey of Gutenberg before you dive deeper into any of the more meaty biographies about him.
December 18, 2022
Fascinating short read on the most influential inventor in the world.
Read
December 20, 2022DNF.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews