Wild Talent is the title of a science fiction novel by Wilson Tucker

Wilson Tucker

Arthur Wilson "Bob" Tucker was an American mystery, action adventure, and science fiction writer, who wrote professionally as Wilson Tucker....

.

Wild Talents is the fourth and final nonfiction book written by paranormal

Paranormal

Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...

 author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 Charles Fort

Charles Fort

Charles Hoy Fort was an American writer and researcher into anomalous phenomena. Today, the terms Fortean and Forteana are used to characterize various such phenomena. Fort's books sold well and are still in print today.-Biography:Charles Hoy Fort was born in 1874 in Albany, New York, of Dutch...

, published in 1932.

Overview

Like Fort's previous works, this book deals largely with a number of anomalous phenomena, as well as his ongoing attack on scientific dogma

Dogma

Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, or a particular group or organization. It is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted, or diverged from, by the practitioners or believers...

. The book deals for the most part with trying to fit the various phenomena described into Fort's new theory of psychic

Psychic

A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...

 and mental power - the "Wild Talents" of the title - that are detailed below.

Though not as well known as some of his other works, Wild Talents is arguably Fort's best. As did his previous book, Lo!

Lo!

Lo! was the third published nonfiction work of the author Charles Fort . In it he details a wide range of unusual phenomena. In the final chapter of the book he proposes a new cosmology that the earth is stationary in space and surrounded by a solid shell which is "....

, it deals with a wide range of phenomena. Fort's writing style and tongue-in-cheek

Tongue-in-cheek

Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...

 sense of self-deprecating humor is on full display in this book, particularly in the section on his own purported psychic experiences, as well as being shorter and less "cluttered" than his previous works. As a result, the book is generally easier to read than his earlier works.

The "Wild Talents" thesis

In recounting a wide variety of odd phenomena, Fort largely disregards his previous teleportation theory

Theory

The English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...

, or at least incorporates him into his new thesis

Thesis

A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...

. Rather than a vague "Cosmic joker", as he postulated in his earlier books, the responsibility for these occurrences are freak powers that occur in the human mind, that cannot be naturally developed, but are there, Fort feels, as a sort of throwback to primeval

Primeval

Primeval or primæval may refer to:* Primeval, a British science fiction television series.* Primeval , a 2007 film* Primeval , a score of music from the BBC TV series Doctor Who...

 times.

Fort discusses many topics he had touched on before, though generally in more detail than in his other works - poltergeists, spontaneous human combustion

Spontaneous human combustion

Spontaneous human combustion describes reported cases of the burning of a living human body without an apparent external source of ignition...

, animal mutilations, vampires, and ghosts - along with many supposed cases of psychokinesis

Psychokinesis

The term psychokinesis , also referred to as telekinesis with respect to strictly describing movement of matter, sometimes abbreviated PK and TK respectively, is a term...

 and ability to control one's surroundings. His thesis is that in primeval times, man needed such extraordinary powers in order to survive in the wilderness, and that all people can potentially develop these powers if they literally put their mind to it. He also explores alleged cases of witchcraft

Witchcraft

Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...

 and murder by mental suggestion, compiling an impressive list of "occult

Occult

The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...

 criminology" (people apparently being murdered under peculiar or unexplainable circumstances) in support. He also attacks the general sense of taboo

Taboo

A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...

 which he feels prevents wild talents from being accepted, and suggests that such "talents" would become acceptable if science

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

 would deem them as such.

Fort also plays around with the idea that humans are able to transform into animals at will, citing a number of cases of werewolves and other similar creatures such as gorillas and hyenas. He also casually (and quite humorously) dismisses, in one chapter, reports of a talking dog that "disappeared in a thin, greenish vapor", because, in his view, it is an extraordinary event, and he only deals with quite ordinary ones.

Fort also briefly mentions a purported psychic occurrence that happened to him and his family, where he imagined a picture frame in his house falling from the wall, and of course it happened. He regards this with his usual tongue-in-cheek manner, and it is doubtful (as usual) that he seriously believes what he is saying.

This book is available as part of Dover Publications

Dover Publications

Dover Publications is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward Cirker and his wife, Blanche. It publishes primarily reissues, books no longer published by their original publishers. These are often, but not always, books in the public domain. The original published editions may be...

' collection of The Complete Works of Charles Fort.

External links

• Online, edited and annotated version of the book