This episode explores the single invention that dragged the world out of the age of scribes and into the modern era: the printing press.

We begin not in Germany, but centuries earlier in China and Korea, uncovering the remarkable but often overlooked history of woodblock printing and the world's first movable metal type. We then travel to fifteenth-century Mainz to meet Gutenberg himself, revealing how his true genius lay not in one device, but in creating a complete and efficient system for manufacturing books, from his unique metal alloy to his powerful press.

Finally, we witness the explosive consequences of this new technology. Discover how the press fuelled the Renaissance, powered the Protestant Reformation, and ignited the Scientific Revolution. Learn how this single invention standardized language, spurred literacy, and ultimately laid the foundation for the complex, information-rich world we inhabit today.

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