Nib asked, and Nib — askNib's tutor — drew the answer live at a whiteboard. This is the spoken transcript; enable JavaScript to watch it drawn.
How did the printing press take over Europe in fifty years? (for a curious adult who has not studied history). Cover, in this order: How were books made before the printing press?; What exactly did Gutenberg invent?; Wasn't printing invented earlier in China and Korea?; Why did printing jump from city to city instead of spreading like a ripple?; Why did books become so much cheaper?; What changed once many people could read the same words? — page 6: Many Readers, Same Words
Before print, no two copies matched. Now hundreds of copies are identical, so readers in different cities are looking at exactly the same words.
Now a reader can point to a passage and others can find it too. Errors get spotted by many eyes and fixed in later editions.
Luther's writings were printed in huge numbers and spread within weeks. Pamphlets let opponents read and answer each other, and a religious dispute became a continent-wide debate.
With more to read, more people learned to read. A public formed that shared texts, followed debates, and made up its own mind.
Print did more than make books cheap; it made everyone's copy the same, and that let a continent read, argue, and think together.