There’s nothing weird in that list of accomplishments. Brilliant would better describe Franklin, and yet the man some call “the first American” had certain ways about him you might consider odd. He once pranked a competing publisher by astrologically predicting when the man’s life would end. He created his own alphabet, dispensing with the letters c, j, q, w, x, and y, and adding others he made up to stand in for common sounds. He is said to have favored “air baths,” often writing his essays and letters while sitting in a cold room with nothing on.