BookPeople began in 1970 in the student slum district at the edge of the University of Texas, Austin as Grok Books. An outpost for the literate in what was then a rural reading wasteland, Grok flourished, expanding over time into BookPeople. In the contemporary wasteland of two-centimeter culture and chained commerce, BookPeople remains a refuge for the contemplative, a place where it’s still possible to find a good book and someone irreverent with whom to discuss it. Eschewing elitism, BookPeople also sells the other books.