The Gutenberg Revolution: The Story of a Genius and an Invention That Changed the World

by John Man

In 1450, all western Europe's books were handcopied and amounted to no more than a single modern library. By 1500 they were printed and numbered in their millions. Printing made possible the development of modern science and literature, and the political shift from statelets to nations. It brought about the biggest changes in human culture since the invention of the alphabet itself. The man responsible was Johann Gutenberg, born in 1400 in Mainz, Germany. John Man explains how this technical genius whose research into printing was funded by wealthy sponsors, struggled against a background of plague, religious upheaval and legal battles to bring his remarkable invention to light.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Books About Books, Technology, Germany, European History

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

John Anthony Garnet Man is a British historian and travel writer. His special interests are China, Mongolia and the history of written communication. He takes particular pleasure in combining historical narrative with personal experience.

He studied German and French at Keble College, Oxford, before doing two postgraduate courses, a diploma in the History and Philosophy of Science at Oxford and Mongolian at the School of Oriental and African Studies, completing the latter in 1968. After working in journalism with Reuters and in publishing with Time-Life Books, he turned to writing, with occasional forays into film, TV and radio.

In the 1990s, he began a trilogy on the three major revolutions in writing: writing itself, the alphabet and printing with movable type. This has so far resulted in two books, Alpha Beta and The Gutenberg Revolution, both republished in 2009. The third, on the origin of writing, is on hold, because it depends on access to Iraq.

He returned to the subject of Mongolia with Gobi: Tracking the Desert, the first book on the region since the 1920s. Work in Mongolia led to Genghis Khan: Life, Death and Resurrection, which has so far appeared in 18 languages. Attila the Hun and Kublai Khan: The Mongol King Who Remade China completed a trilogy on Asian leaders. A revised edition of his book on Genghis Khan, with the results of an expedition up the mountain on which he is supposed to be buried, was upcoming in autumn 2010.

The Terracotta Army coincided with the British Museum exhibition (September 2007- April 2008). This was followed by The Great Wall. The Leadership Secrets of Genghis Khan combines history and leadership theory. Xanadu: Marco Polo and the Discovery of the East was published in autumn 2009, and Samurai: The Last Warrior, the story of Saigō Takamori's doomed 1877 rebellion against the Japanese emperor, was published in February 2011.

In 2007 John Man was awarded Mongolia's Friendship Medal for his contributions to UK-Mongolian relations.

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

**UPDATE 2017 Look at this documentary starring Stephen Fry about the man and his invention. Wry and witty.

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: A world forever changed...In 1450, all of western Europe's books were hand-copied and amounted to no more than are in a modern public library. By 1500, printed books numbered in the millions. Johann Gutenberg's invention of movable type ignited the explosion of art, literature, and scientific research that accelerated the Renaissance and led directly to the Modern Age. In Gutenberg, you'll meet the genius who fostered this revolution, discover the surprising ambitions that drove him, and learn how a single, obscure artisan changed the course of history.

"His story is one of genius very nearly denied. A few records less, and we would not now be revering the Gutenberg Bible as his. All we would have would be the results: an idea that changed the world and a book that is amongst the most astonishing objects ever created?a jewel of art and technology, one that emerged fully formed, of a perfection beyond anything required by its purpose. It is a reminder that the business Gutenberg started . . . contains elements of the sublime?that at the heart of the mountains of printed dross there is gold." --From the Introduction to Gutenberg

My Review: An attempt to write a biography of the man who set in motion the creation of our mutual object of addiction, the book. Lots of research went into the book, the author has reached deep into the documentary evidence, and has built a solid story of the life that gave rise to one important aspect of the modern world.

Delightful book, fun to read, and quite informative.

I don't like Gutenberg very much as a person at the end of this book, but I appreciate more than ever the genius of the man to have brought together so much extant knowledge and synthesized something extraordinary and new from that basis.

Recommended to lovers of books about books, biography fans, and those with a mild, non-professional interest in medieval history. Those who adventure into different genres in search of dry wit are encouraged to read here, too.

[Jamie Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The printing press arrived at a time when literacy was increasing, and political and religious ferment had created a strong demand for information of all kinds, including books, tracts, pamphlets, and devotional materials. In 1450 every book in the world, all of them hand printed manuscripts, would have fit into a single moderately sized modern library, but by 1500 John Man, author of The Gutenberg Revolution, estimates there were already 15 to 20 million. Within a dozen years of Gutenberg’s death there were printing presses in 122 European cities.

As the book points out, Gutenberg was the first to bring together all the elements necessary to mass produce reading material, but he was far from the first to envision movable type. The Chinese had printed books using wooden blocks 700 years earlier, and the Koreans were using metal type by 1234, but the vast numbers of characters needed to produce texts meant they were not viable alternatives to hand written books.

Other key components of Gutenberg’s process were adapted from technology which had existed for centuries. The ancient Romans had used hand operated presses to make grape and olive oil, and skilled craftsmanship had created punches, which would later be used to create letter forms, for coins and jewelry since ancient times.

Gutenberg did invent an ink of just the right consistency, and an ingenious way to rapidly cast multiple copies of individual letters. The author provides some illustrations of this and tries to explain how it worked, but in this case a video is worth a thousand words and there are good examples on the internet to show how it worked.

Creating the letter forms for the punches was exacting work, and it took Gutenberg’s craftsmen over a year to create the 300 forms needed for the first Bible which, it was somewhat surprising to read, was not the first book printed with the new technology. In 1448 in Mainz he created a printed version of a popular Latin primer, and the famous bible came out in 1455.

Gutenberg’s business partners have long been vilified for their behavior, calling in their loans, suing him, taking possession of his press, and even asserting that the whole idea was theirs. This is a complicated story, with many details lost to time, but his partners were entirely within their rights since they had advanced Gutenberg considerable sums of money that he could not repay, and one of craftsmen did in fact make key contributions to the overall design of the press. In any case, Gutenberg was soon back in business, with a new workshop and press, and making a comfortable living printing indulgences and political pamphlets. One of his patrons wisely paid him an annuity to ensure that he only printed complimentary things.

The book also does a good job setting the invention within the complicated and dangerous times of the 15th century, where bishops went to war with each other, mercenaries sacked towns in lieu of payment, and episodes of plague reoccurred regularly. The printing press became an essential tool for Martin Luther’s Reformation, which would not have been able to spread so far so fast without it. He churned out vast numbers of books and tracts, writing in German to reach the widest possible audience, and his translation of the bible is still the one most Germans know today.

The Gutenberg Revolution has been compared to Dava Sobel’s Longitude as a technology history designed to reach a wide audience of non-specialists. I think this is a fair comparison, and the book packs a surprisingly large amount of information into fewer than 300 pages. Sometimes the style is a bit too glib, a sort of gee whiz approach that I felt was unnecessary. Still, for anyone with an interest in this subject who wants to gain more understanding about one of the seminal inventions of civilization, this is a good place to start.

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Gutenberg Revolution is a really easy read, with a pretty chatty style that doesn't undermine the material, but does make it easy to digest. I read it on the train -- like some other people I see reviewing it, actually -- and it was interesting enough to hold my attention from start (in Cardiff Central) to finish (somewhere between London and Lille).

It begins by exploring the man who invented moveable type, Johann Gutenberg, and the context he was born into and grew up in. It isn't all about Gutenberg specifically, though: it talks about the people he was involved with, or could've been involved with, in the endeavour -- and most of all, about the revolution that was printing and how it became a force for social change, particularly the Reformation. There's quite a good bit about Martin Luther, as well as some other interesting titbits about how the printing press went on to be used. There's a bit about Caxton, which is particularly interesting to me given my interest in Arthuriana (even if Sir Thomas Malory is far from my favourite).

John Man's enthusiasm for the subject comes through perfectly, and I like that he chose a type setting (Poliphilis) for the book related to one of the stories he wanted to tell. It's a pretty clear and easy to read font from my point of view, though I'm not sure how it'd be for someone with sight problems. Still, I enjoyed it -- the book as a whole, of course, but also this specific font.

[Tvrtko Balić · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to write a review for my English class so I might as well post that review here. It does mean its unnecessarily long though.

This book, written by the historian John Man covers a very important topic. As the description suggests, it is not just a story of one man. It is the story of his invention as well. This invention changed the world forever and by far overshadowed its inventor by changing not just the rate and profitability of the duplication of books, but also the way we think about information.
The work is a surprisingly compelling read and immensely informative. One could find nitpicks in the way the author presents certain things, be it in pointing out slight misrepresentations of certain phenomena, giving too much personal opinions on social issues or going too much off topic. But all of those flaws are minor and actually mesh together with everything else in a way that makes them noticeable, but in a good way. The author ambitiously covering more ground than anybody asked for just increases the informativity and not only that, but it also uncovers whole new levels to the topic which make the reader appreciate the book more. It thoroughly covers the conditions that led to the invention, from a very detailed history of paper to the politics of the time and other possible inventors, and it approaches the consequences of the invention with equal care, from describing the sheer amount of books that get printed to more obscure topics such as the acceptance of the technology in the Islamic world. The authors opinions and sometimes over simplified way of presenting things likewise make the book seem „chatty“ and more personal, it adds to style and just makes the book as a whole more engaging. Writing a good book is not easy, but what even less people are able to do is taking obstacles and using them to their own advantage, turning deviations from the norm into a personal touch.
What could have been a dry biography full of speculation has become a compelling page turner, and for how jam-packed with information it is, it is surprisingly short. Whether you're reading this book for fun or for a seminar, you will not be left bored or disappointed by it.

[Graham Senders · Rating 1 out of 5]

Weird Man-splaining providing incoherent analogies, sentences that aren't actually sentences, shrouding meaning.
Somewhere in this miasma is a useful story, likely told better by someone else?
Which is why I plodded on to the end, learning a few useful things about the advent of printing, nuggets, as they say amongst the...

[Drew Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lively, informative, and so far, the most exciting account I've read on Gutenberg himself. I'd only read Albert Kapr's "The Man and His Invention" before this, and though I found it thorough, it was also painfully dry. Man really hits some nice story beats with this one and got me all interested all over again in the printing press.

Only reason it's four stars and not five is because of his random tangent about HP. And no, I'm not talking about Harry Potter, I'm talking about a 15th century erotic novel that John Man is apparently very fond of and describes over several pages.

And it's erotic. Very erotic. And Man wants you to know just how salaciously, seductively, sexily erotic it is... up to the point where he says the font will turn you on, too.

Anyway, once that was over, all was well.

[Kathryn Bashaar · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I'm trying to sell the novel I just wrote, I hit on the idea for my next one: a fictionalized biography of Gutenberg (then I found out one was recently published so I'm planning on reading it and if I think it's better than what I could do I'll give up on the idea). So I read this book as a first pass at learning more about my subject. It was interesting, but pretty dry and academic. I've gotten spoiled by biographies that read like novels, like McCullough's of Adams, or Isaacson's of Franklin.

[Krokki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great account on the history of press-printing, with several great background storyes, from the inventor Johann Gutenberg to Nicholas of Cusa and other significant persons and events in the early world of printed books.

This invention is immensly important to the scociety and enlightment of common people. The rennesaisance, the reformation, the french-revolution, all was close connected to the spreading of information through books. It was the pre-sucsessor to Radio/Television and the Internet from our generation.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gutenberg like Shakespeare left little biographical evidence of what he did daily when he was alive. Most of his life is reconstructed from public records and court documents. He was forgotten for several generations after he died and his partners got the credit for inventing printing. This book expertly takes what little evidence we have and connects it to the greater events of the day making the book a fascinating record of those turbulent years.

[Kris Babe · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Man offers up a briskly written, informative book on how the printing press changed the world. I began highlighting, only to find I was highlighting almost everything.

[Bob Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t know if this is a great book, or even an interesting one; but Man deserves credit for piecing together the 15th Century cultural and business ambiance that confronted Gutenberg.

As an inventor, toiling four years in obscurity, perfecting his printing process, Gutenberg was outstanding. But as a businessman out to make it rich on his invention, well, he was sloppy and flawed.

He was born to an upper middle class family in Germany. What he did was take all the extant knowledge and use it to solve the problem of replacing all those monks working in cold, dimly lit, monasteries just to create a single Bible. It is just amazing to think that just a couple decades after his invention, quality printed books were everywhere and their presence transformed the quality of civilization, especially in the west.

His invention of a printing press and movable type opened a whole new world, launched the Reformation and ushered a close to the Middle Ages.

Man’s style is chatty, and his book is a bit oversimplified. But he pulls a lot out of little verifiable historical information. I was surprised so little was known of Gutenberg.

Much of what is known comes from lawsuits, usually because Gutenberg would not pay his debts, but also it’s fair to note he got money for his first venture by pulling a legal technicality that put an innocent man in debtor’s prison.

In the end, Gutenberg paid dearly for his lack of business ethics. He lost his printing press to a partner who loaned him money.

Overall, I would recommend this to anyone interested in the topic; but frankly, it’s not an easy read if you don’t care about printing or the importance - undeniable - of Gutenberg’s invention

[E. C. Koch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here, J. Man tells an old tale newly, retreading trodden ground in his rendering of the story of Gutenberg and the printing press. And that's not a bad thing. The writing is inviting, even jaunty, which makes for an enjoyable read. Too, like its closest comparison, S. Greenblatt's The Swerve, Man, and by extension the reader, luxuriates in the historical details that bring the subject, easily mythologized, to life. In many ways this is more a history of fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century Germany - local customs, religious rivalries, the birth of finance capital, politics - than a story of Gutenberg, because, ultimately, in order to understand the one one need understand the other. As it turns out, a lot of what is 'known' about G-berg is really what is surmised by historians from scant evidence, so if you're a real historian, this probably isn't for you. However, if you want to just know a bit more about the man and his revolution, you could do much worse than this.

[Derrick Grose · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Gutenberg Revolution weaves the story of Gutenberg's life, a portrait of Europe in the midst of plague and political, religious and technological revolution and the development of one invention not by one person, but by groups of people with skills and resources. That invention, the printing press with movable type, stirred up all the ingredients, for dramatic social change. Given the absence of factual evidence, the author often builds his narrative around speculation and at times he stretches the narrative to encompass somewhat extraneous elements such as stories of early examples of printed books. While interesting, such details sometimes feel like padding that help to spice up and fill out the book. Perhaps that is justified by the subtitle that explains that this is the story of a genius and an invention that changed the world. The problem may be my own in expecting a more biographically focused narrative.

[Filip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating insight into the origin of one of the greatest inventions that permanently changed the way how our civilisation stores ideas within collective memory.


Man does a great job in explaining:

- how exactly did printing with movable type triggered a literary revolution

- the reasons why this invention could not happend anywhere else, but in the medieval Rhineland in particular

- the literary boom and massive social changes that followed decades after the Gutenberg's invention


Paradoxically, I enjoyed the chapters that dealt with inventing process itself bit less than rest of the book. But at the same time, they were quite useful to understand the economic and technical struggle it took to bring the new technology to life.

Valuable read especially for those of us who are curious to see how books as physical and intellectual objects became global phenomenon available to masses.

[Pammy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The subject matter is of interest, since my father was a life-long printer and, at one time, I ran a small print shop. As is said about printers: 'The ink is in our blood'.
The author presents his work by explaining that if you think the Information Age began with the Internet, you should think again! History loudly and proudly proclaims that Gutenberg's innovative movable type and printing press ignited an unprecedented explosion of new information in 1450. Gutenberg is credited with helping to found the Modern Age.
This book is a biography that details his early inspirations, his genius, his decades of research and development , and his constant fight for capital (which even had him thrown into a debtor's prison).
Having said all that,it is 300 pages more suited as reference material for research. I was looking for something a bit more ...well.... readable.

[Brandon DH · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Man chronicles the creation of the printing press and its inventor, Johann Gutenberg, with authority and lots of interesting nuggets.

However, since the story unfolds in the midst of religious upheaval, the latter half of the book almost feels like a history of Catholicism, the Lutherans and the war of words they waged in print.

Still, Man is an engaging storyteller and has done ample research on perhaps the most important technology ever founded.

As a side note, American readers may need to keep a dictionary handy, since there are lots of terms that make this book more accessible to a UK English audience.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man does a fine job of relating the technicalities of Gutenberg's work. He is scrupulous about indicating what is known and what is speculation. Most interestingly he puts Gutenberg's work in its social and economic context. To do the latter he often digresses to tell stories about other people. Some of these are interesting in their own right. At some point they began to feel like filler, not necessary to understanding Gutenberg's achievement. Nonetheless if you want an engaging and thoughtful introduction to this 'communication revolution', this book is not a bad place to start.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book on Gutenberg! The first 3/4 of chapter one had me doubting it as a good choice, it felt terribly dry, but then it hit its stride and became much more fascinating. It was worth pushing through for. There is very little information about Gutenberg as a young person, so the whole book really focuses on his mid-life through his death. The last couple of chapters are devoted to the impacts and changes that came because of the printing press in broad brush strokes. All in all a good read for this time period on this specific topic.

[Aleta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seems to be extremely well researched. Story about Gutenberg told with a significant amount of background about history of the time, place, politics, and church doings. Informative.
Narrated with a bit of playfulness and humor so that added to readability- but still it was full of things unfamiliar to me, so it was hard for me to push on through.
I picked it up from a discard shelf at the library thinking a friend who has a printing press would be interested in it. I’ll be passing it on and looking forward to my next book with more enthusiasm.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit slow in the beginning but it set the tone for why and how the printing press came into existence from the historical aspect with the Catholic church. There was little biographical information of inventor as I was hoping due to the printing world had yet come to create the many genres we have come to love. I haven't gotten excited from reading a book in a long time, where this combined my love of reading and history in one.

[Lydia Margaret · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly edited in terms of both content and mechanics. Loaded with inaccurate and outdated information and excessive tangents that could have easily been condensed. Should have ended about 100 pages before it did, but it veers into a lengthy hagiography of Martin Luther. Man has a really irritating habit of repeatedly reminding the reader that some detail will be relevant later, but I don't remember said details ever being picked up again.

[Siddharth Agarwal · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is informative and well written. Since the subject is quite academic, it requires lot of details and facts in order to do justice to the part of explaining the revolution. Hence, expect to learn about Gutenberg, his surroundings but more importantly the revolution that he started and roles of his contemporaries in the same.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was super-readable and honestly a real joy to go through, which is not something I ever thought I would say about a book on Gutenberg. Might be too chatty for some but I really liked the style (there were puns!!) and I also found all the historical players *quite* easy to follow, which is where I can sometimes get mixed up in history books.

[H.J. Swinford · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Interesting enough. I was really hoping for a larger emphasis on the cultural impact of the printing press, especially at the time. This had a lot more about the details of Johannes's life and journey to the invention than I was hoping for. Still pretty interesting, though! More than anything, it's fascinating how little we know about stuff that happened not that long ago.

[Scott Goglin · Rating 4 out of 5]

O

[Alec Rill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Printing started when paper was widely available. Printing on paper is at the end of it's journey. What would Gutenberg say? Great book!

[David Blankenship · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not so much a book about Gutenberg as it is a story of the world around him that inspired his work,.and the effect this had on Europe in the next century.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting tale. A pity more isn't known about Gutenberg.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Went down too many rabbit trails barely related to telling of story.

[Sarahsketti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much more about the politics surrounding Gutenberg’s life rather than him that I expected, and the author took some interesting liberties, but overall an interesting read