IN WHAT WAY DID GUTENBERG CHANGE LIFE FOR EUROPEANS
MCM 30 – CHAPTER 4 – BOOKS – CRITICAL THINKING ESSAY ON JOHANNES GUTENBERG (1400-1468?_
PROF. BETH PREMINGER – FALL 2014
Did you know that 600 years ago people used to make copies of books by writing each page by hand? It would take months to make one book!
Johannes Gutenberg changed all that. He invented the moveable press (an addition to the printing press).
When Gutenberg was growing up, most people in Europe did not read or write. They did not buy books. Books cost a lot of money. Only the wealthy owned them.
Gutenberg found a way to print words. People in Korea and China had invented it hundreds of years ago, but no one in Europe knew about it.
Gutenberg cut metal into letters. He sorted the letters into words. Then he covered them with ink. Gutenberg printed words on paper the way you would use a stamp and an inkpad.
Gutenberg became famous for this method called “moveable type”. He also became famous for printing the bible called the “Gutenberg Bible”. Gutenberg’s printing press made it possible to make books more easily and cheaply. Then more people became more literate and bought and read books. The printing press changed the way people shared information and ideas.
Generally speaking, Gutenberg helped the printing press sort letters to make more words to expand vocabulary as society became more advanced over time.
CRITICAL THINKING ESSAY:
IN WHAT WAY DID GUTENBERG CHANGE LIFE FOR EUROPEANS? USE OUTSIDE SOURCES AND CITE THOSE SOURCES FOR THIS ESSAY. 350-450 WORDS, CENTURY GOTHIC, 12 PT. DOUBLE SPACE. COULD YOU ALSO THINK OF A MODERN DAY INVENTOR OF TECHNOLOGY THAT HAS CHANGED THE WAY SOCIETY TODAY UTILIZES MASS COMMUNICATION? AGAIN, USE OUTSIDE SOURCES AND CITE THOSE SOURCES. DUE: NEXT WEDNESDAY…..
