Johann Gutenberg Research Paper

Everyday, we read books. Instruction books, books for our own pleasure, books for school work. Books printed in ink on paper. Books like the very book you’re reading were printed using a giant, efficient, mechanical printer. While we owe technology for that high-tech printer, the concept of word processing today is all based off Johann Gutenberg’s genius idea of movable type. During the Renaissance, most books were hand-copied and took years just to complete a single book. Later, block printing came from China by Muslim traders. This method involved cutting the letters into a block of wood, dipping the block into ink, and then stamping the block onto the paper, which was more efficient than hand-copying entire works, but still time consuming. Johann Gutenberg, a German printer, decided to change that in 1450 by inventing the printing press and creating the very first printed bible, also known as the Gutenberg Bible. With his invention, printing became faster, the cost of books decreased, and more people were able to read. …show more content…
Because most of the public could not read or write, news would be spread verbally, which wasn’t as effective as using posters and signs. Printing faster also helped spread literary works to other cities and other countries because of the increase in supplies too. During the Reformation, the printing press helped distribute Martin Luther’s 95 Theses to the public while he hid away from the Church as an outlaw. The output of books rose ten times more than before, with a grand total of about 150-200 million copies produced throughout just the 16th