“The printing press is either the greatest blessing or the greatest curse of modern times, we sometimes forget which” - James Matthew Barrie. This is a blessing because it is much easier to print things, but a curse because now news and bad things could travel much faster. James Matthew Barrie is the author of the popular story of Peter Pan. In 1398, the inventor of printing was born in Mainz, Germany. Johann Gutenberg, the Renaissance inventor who changed the world forever. Johann's childhood consisted of his desire to be able to read books. His birth name was Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden Gutenberg. He was taught to read, but his family was too poor to afford books. The only way he could get his hands on books was to ask his wealthy friends to borrow one. He was very disgusted that only the rich could have books. He wished ordinary people could have them. When he was a teenager, he decided to do something so that only the rich would have books. So he found an old abandoned building and repaired part of it. There he experimented with making the mobile printing press. He ultimately failed early in his life because he ran out of money. Gutenberg was influenced by many factors to further develop movable type printing. His biggest motivation was to find a way to make books cheaper so that ordinary people could buy them. He was part of the lower classes who loved reading but didn't have enough money to buy them. After running out of money, Johann Fust gave him money to continue his experiments. Johann Fust gave Gutenberg the opportunity to continue working on the development of printing. Johann's adult life was very productive...... middle of paper ...... oks could now be made much more quickly. In some ways, the literacy rate increased now that books were cheaper to buy. As books became more available, people wanted to learn how to read them. It was a shame that the creator of one of the best inventions of all time died with nothing. He was homeless and died in Mainz, Germany in 1468, where he was born. He never profited from his invention. In conclusion, Johann Gutenberg, the inventor of the Renaissance, forever changed the way this world will think. His invention was central to the Reformation in that he created the machine capable of mass producing the Bible. Some consider his invention to be the best of all time. Johann's life was pretty terrible considering he made this great invention and was poor his whole life. Gutenberg will always be remembered for creating the greatest invention of the Renaissance and perhaps of all time..