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 Johann Gutenberg had caused a revolution: printing by movable type. 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 paradoxes: 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.
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"Vivid . . . engaging, detailed and highly readable . . . a window on an extraordinary display of consummate skill and creative genius." —New Scientist
"At the heart of Man's enchanting narrative is Gutenberg's place as an early capitalist, an entrepreneur, deprived of patrician status by his mother's modest background, who set out to strike it rich in business." —New York Times Book Review
"A heavily detailed account, but still accessible to a general audience." —Booklist
The best book about the origin of books you could read . . . clear, engaging, fast-paced and authoritative." —Stephen Fry
"Extremely erudite and enormously enthusiastic." —Guardian
About the Author
John Man is a historian and travel writer whose other titles include Alpha Beta, Attila, Genghis Khan, and The Great Wall.
I usually write non-fiction, mainly exploring interests in Asia and the history of written communication. So 'The Lion's Share', available only on Kindle, is something different - a new edition of a thriller written some 25 years ago when I wasn't sure what I wanted to focus on. It's about the 'real' - in quotes, i.e. fictional - fate of Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia.
Most of the time, I like to mix history, narrative and personal experience, exploring the places I write about. It brings things to life, and it's a reaction against an enclosed, secure, rural childhood in Kent. I did German and French at Oxford, and two postgraduate courses, History and Philosophy of Science at Oxford and Mongolian at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London (to join an expedition that never happened).
After working in journalism and publishing, I turned to writing, with occasional forays into film, TV and radio. A planned trilogy on three major revolutions in writing has resulted in two books, 'Alpha Beta' (on the alphabet) and 'The Gutenberg Revolution', both republished in 2009. The third, on the origin of writing, is on hold, because it depends on researching in Iraq. (On the fourth revolution, the Internet, many others can write far better than me).
My interest in Mongolia revived in 1996 when I spent a couple of months in the Gobi. 'Gobi: Tracking the Desert' was the first book on the region since the 1920's (those by the American explorer Roy Chapman Andrews). In Mongolia, everything leads back to Genghis. I followed. The result was 'Genghis Khan: Life, Death and Resurrection', now appearing in 20 languages. Luckily, there's more to Mongol studies than Genghis. 'Attila the Hun' and 'Kublai Khan' came next.
Another main theme in Asian history is the ancient and modern relationship between Mongolia and China. 'The Terracotta Army', published to in 2007, was followed by 'The Great Wall', which took me from Xinjiang to the Pacific. 'The Leadership Secrets of Genghis Khan' (combining history, character analysis and modern leadership theory) and 'Xanadu: Marco Polo and Europe's Discovery of the East' pretty much exhausted Inner Asian themes for me.
So recently I have become interested in Japan. For 'Samurai: The Last Warrior', I followed in the footsteps of Saigo Takamori, the real 'Last Samurai', published in February 2011. After that, more fiction, perhaps.
I live in north London, inspired by a strong and beautiful family - wife, children and grand-children.
A fascinating look at the history of printing, as it evolved from the painfully copied and transposed palimpsest type of books that existed before the invention of movable type. Man's careful and scholarly research does not obscure his sheer enthusiasm for the man, history or the period. From the revealing of Gutenberg's motives - profit and the spread of religion - through to his somewhat overwrought concluding chapter, the author holds our attention with prose that communicates his own delight in the important events, inventions and improving technical enhancements in the world of printing information to expand knowledge.
I got interested in Gutenberg after reading Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore (also recommended), and found this history of printing and the revolution it created to be fascinating, and well-told.
I loved this book and I love this new idea of Kindle singles. The book gives a good background to Gutenberg and the invention of the printing press and how he went broke.It makes the links with today's tech revolution, Facebook and Twitter. Note it is not an in depth study but never the less it is a great over view. I loved it
