CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 11/13/2015

Imponderable: The Archives of Tony Oursler

In JRP|Ringier's fascinating, epic, 666-page artist book / occult ephemera compendium Imponderable: The Archives of Tony Oursler, essayist Christopher Turner writes, "The pseudoscientist, a vivid dreamer, builds entire worlds; fragile, elaborate, over-inflated bubbles that, despite a barrage of criticism, they never allow to burst. They employ every tactic, every hint of proof, and every defensive justification to protect their creations from collapse. In 1952, Martin Gardner published Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, with the subtitle “The Curious Theories of Modern Pseudoscientists and the Strange, Amusing and Alarming Cults that Surround Them.” In his analysis of L. Ron Hubbard (scientology), Wilhelm Reich (orgone energy), and Immanuel Velikovsky (catastrophism)—each of whom built up cults around themselves that have survived long after their deaths—Gardner concluded that the pseudoscientist’s paranoid tendencies were exhibited in five traits: 1: He considers himself a genius. 2: He regards his colleagues, without exception, as ignorant blockheads. 3: He believes himself unjustly persecuted and discriminated against. 4: He has strong compulsions to focus his attacks on the greatest scientists and the best-established theories. 5: He often has a tendency to write in complex jargon, in many cases
making use of terms and phrases he himself has coined." Featured photograph is of Dr. R. L. Noran, an ESP practitioner, with half-dollar coins taped over his eyes, c. 1978.