I’ve seen many instances of the word in the wild, a good portion in fairly serious, non geek writing.
Does the usage here make you feel like a stranger in a strange land?
I was a big Heinlein fan back in the 60s, but came to hate the word when the hippies started using it. Looking back, I’d put it in the same category as “groovy.”
The reach of ‘grok’ is pretty poor, but you can generally glark the meaning from context.
Often! But usually just to myself. Walking down the street, I will be people-watching and see a beautiful woman a distance away from behind and simply think to myself “cal-li-PIE-gian, baby!!” and make myself smile.
It’s the little things, folks.
In one of his later books, Heinlein had a character express a similar opinion of Stranger: “What some writers will do for money!” Of course, this was in Number of the Beast. :rolleyes:
The only other place I’ve seen it used is on the JREF board. I find both “grok” and “cromulent” to be very annoying.
And yet others – quite a lot of them, in fact – consider Stranger in a Strange Land to be the greatest thing Heinlein ever wrote.
Yep, for example, NPR lists Stranger as the 17th best Science Fiction book in the history of ever.
I took NPR’s advice and am currently 3/4 of the way through the book. I want my bloody $22 back.
The 200-page long diversion into the protagonist’s new careers as drifter/carnies is getting difficult to slog through.
I was also disappointed when Smith’s mysterious ability to make things “turn 90°” became “he can do anything!”
The problem most reader have with *Stranger *is that it’s not science fiction. It’s social satire, a comedy of manners, very deliberately written as such. Picking it up and expecting a ripping Heinlein-across-the-universe yarn or even a traditional novel is sure to lead to disappointment.
The only other Heinlein work close to it - and not very - is Job, written 25 years later. *Glory Road *is very faintly in the same category, and that’s about it. So it’s not representative of Heinlein at all, despite its popularity and strong attachment as “his best novel” etc.
Never read The Number of the Beast. I did slog through I Will Fear No Evil, which makes Stranger look like Dostoevsky by comparison. There were a couple of his other later books that I tried to read, but gave up within the first 50 pages. (Friday was one; can’t remember the other.) In general, his later stuff simply reeks, far more even than Stranger, which at least has some good parts where Jubal Harshaw dominates the action.
As far as grok is concerned, as a word used outside of discussions of Stranger, it’s dated, no question about it. Those “grok concerts” at the P Street Beach in Rock Creek Park were 40 years ago.
I vaguely recall that Heinlein had a stroke in the middle of “stranger”, and while he denied it, I believe that accounts for some of the odd juxtaposition of tone.
*“Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot grok.” *
― Sun Tzu, **The Art of War **
There ya go, again! 
Heinlein’s stroke was much later (1977); Heinlein did take a break from writing Stranger to write Starship Troopers, and some have attributed a change in tone from the earlier parts of Stranger to the later parts to this break, but Heinlein said he had had Stranger plotted out well in advance, including the changes in focus, tone, etc.
Interesting - I feel the exact opposite about grok (Heinlein, well, I recognize his talents but they don’t really “do it” for me).
Maybe I just grok grok, 
but to me, it’s more complex than I get it/I feel where you’re coming from. Also, your examples show we didn’t have “a word” for the same feeling - you needed to use phrases instead.
The first time I remember seeing the word was when someone was wearing an “I Grok Spock” T-shirt on the SNL William Shatner “Get A Life!” sketch.
There is one thing that Stranger in a Strange Land has going for it. Its a great title.
Stranger in a Strange Land isn’t bad, but there is something fundamentally wrong with the supposition that we should all chill out, kick back, and be excellent to each other on the strength of our awesome Martian mental powers.
I first came across the word “grok” in, oh, hte late 70s or early 80s, in the phrase “I Grok Spock.” Being only a lad I had not encountered Heinlein yet, so I thought it was something older Trek fans had invented. I must have been in my mid to late teens when I first read STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND.
I still use the word, and nobody gets it, which is why I still use the word. 
GROK?