The Gutenberg Parenthesis

Jarvis writes to be understood, not to be deciphered. The translation of diverse historical sources and academic secondary works into a book that is accessible to non-specialists, vivid, and yet profound, is a great achievement of the author.

H-Soz-Kult

The Gutenberg Parenthesis is a hopeful treatise that addresses the anxieties of social change and transformation. […] Jarvis’s book is a brilliant compilation of multidisciplinary research and scholarly debates (including frequent appearances by Elizabeth Eisenstein, Marshall McLuhan, and Adrian Johns) that would make a great addition to reference lists in foundational Book History courses. Packed with entertaining print culture trivia, it also promises to interest general readers as well as print culture and digital humanities scholars.

SHARP News

Jeff Jarvis is the ideal guide for this fast-paced history of communication. Shrewd, witty and always generous to his fellow authors, this book is crammed with pointed observation and profound reflection on the present and future of information culture. As print transitions to the digital age, Jarvis explores the potentialities and dangers of unbridled access to information as a realist who sees a path to sanity as our media turbulence finds a new normal.

Andrew Pettegree, Wardlaw Professor of History, University of St. Andrews, UK

Puts a sharp focus on how journalism will evolve in the digital age.

It's All Journalism

Jeff Jarvis magisterially charts how the invention of printing shifted power from individuals and communities to experts and the undifferentiated 'masses,' and then brilliantly shows how the internet is reversing this half-millenium shift. Information in print became a controlled commodity with enforced scarcity that reinforced language and institutional borders and power. Initially extending the reach of thought, printing shaped that thought; the medium became the message, on steroids. Digital now makes possible and even insists upon richer, less controlled exchange of ideas, including fakes. What we need, Jarvis makes clear, is not censorship of our chaotic global conversation but clear goals, guardrails, and institutions to ensure inclusion, accuracy, and privacy. We are all facing this together, and are now all on notice to take up Jarvis' challenge.

Anthony Marx, President and CEO, New York Public Library

Jeff Jarvis’ The Gutenberg Parenthesis invites disenchanted media users to scour the history of print for lessons that may help us build a better future for media. No one has thought as nimbly as Jarvis about how communications shape societies, and his polemic gives hope for these disenchanted times.

Leah Price, Henry Rutgers Distinguished Professor of English, Rutgers University, USA

[Jeff Jarvis] explores the opening of the Gutenberg Parenthesis and the developments within it in granular and compelling detail to better understand its closing … The Gutenberg Parenthesis is an outstanding and engaging analysis of a complex and wide-ranging subject.

Survival

The Gutenberg Parenthesis is an appealing way to frame the transition into and out of the mass media age ... and what the theory and Jarvis’ book do is challenge the idea that we can just adapt mass media business models to online scale, without recognising quite how much the internet has changed the fundamental way information now travels.

Flashes & Flames Media

For those who want to think about the deep mechanics of the media industry, The Gutenberg Parenthesis should be an essential read. At the minimum, it is a valuable provocation as to how mass communication should work. At the maximum, it’s the guide to a different – and imminent – era.

Journal of Cyber Policy