To highlight the significance of the printing press, just think that had it not been for one Johannes Gutenberg, you would probably not be reading these words and I would, more than likely, be out of a job.

Until Gutenberg's invention the only means available to produce multiple copies of a work were through either wood-block printing or painstakingly through handwritten manuscript; neither a very practical solution for mass production.

It was around AD1440 that Gutenberg invented the mechanical way of making books. It is highly plausible that his work on the printing press was influenced by the Chinese. However, what set Gutenberg's invention apart from other forms of printing before him was that instead of utilising wood-block prints, he made use of metal typography.

While wood-prints were quite functional in printing material, they suffered from two major disadvantages. For one thing, the time required to individually carve out each block was not only extensive and labour intensive, but also very costly. Secondly, the wood-blocks were susceptible to environmental damage and wore down very quickly after a little usage. Gutenberg's invention's greatest advantage was that metal types could be easily reproduced once the initial mould had been fashioned. Also, Gutenberg split the text into its individual components, such as punctuation marks and upper case letters; thus making the process of printing faster, simpler and more economical.

Ironically, despite his great achievement, Gutenberg died without witnessing the true effects of his remarkable invention. Before the printing press revolutionised the process of creating books, they were scarce, expensive and available to only a select few. History, for the most part, was recorded in handwritten manuscripts which lay in the procession of an elite group. This invention led to books becoming easily available in the hands of the common man, thus allowing him to question and verify facts. In fact, one of Gutenberg's very first tasks was to mass produce the Holy Bible. In a world where only a few held actual copies of the book, the general masses were slaves to the interpretations of priests and archbishops about the word of God and the guiding principles of their faith.

Gutenberg in a way set humanity free from the shackles of naivety and illiteracy, and allowed it to progress to new heights of knowledge and questioning. No longer was one dependent on the oral tradition of passing knowledge. No longer would facts change and be altered with the passage of time without anyone being able to verify their validity.

The printing press not only gave rise to mass improvements in literacy, but also gave information its first overseer. It's fitting to note that while the creator of paper occupies the seventh position in The 100 A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, Gutenberg comes right after at number eight. After all, it was only after the mass production of paper that there grew a need for the printing press.