Timothy Leary in Austin, Texas

Grok Books Presents An Evening With Timothy Leary

At The Armadillo World Headquarters, October 7th, 1979

This promotional poster for an appearance by legendary (infamous?) LSD psychedelics proponent, Timothy Leary, is but one item in our voluminous collections. The event was held on this date in 1979:

“When Timothy Leary came in 1979 to do one of his “stand-up philosophy” routines, over 1,000 people showed up to Armadillo World Headquarters, where Grok hosted the event, followed by a book signing at the store. Two years later, Buckminster Fuller came to promote his book The Critical Path, bringing in a crowd of about 500 people. In 1982, Grok initiated “The Great Debate” between Leary and G. Gordon Liddy, in which the two figures who represented opposite sides of the cultural and political spectrum of the ’60s discussed topics like the war on drugs and partisan politics.”

How BookPeople Became the Center of Austin’s Literary Universe BY Marisa Charpentier in TXEX Nov | Dec 2017 on November 1, 2017

“Leary is depicted in a cloudscape above a psychedelic seashore with ufos in the sky and a radio telescope on a banking. grok books described itself in its tenth anniversary catalogue as “the most complete new age and metaphysical bookstore in the Southwest” and hosted a number of talks by the pioneers of the utopian trend, new age revival and neuroconsciousness frontier of the sixties counterculture such as John lilly, buckminster fuller and ram Dass (bookpeople’s blog).”