1

Clint Eastwood: Jazz piano

Clint Eastwood has spent many decades playing the toughest, coolest characters in Hollywood—the Man with No Name, Dirty Harry—men of few words and steely nerves. So it might come as a surprise that he has always had a deeply sensitive, artistic side rooted in jazz piano. He started playing as a teenager in Oakland, California, influenced by the bebop era.

Eastwood has composed music for several of his own films and even directed Bird (1988) , a biographical film about jazz legend Charlie Parker. He plays piano regularly to this day and has spoken about jazz as a lifelong love.

2

Albert Einstein: Sailing

You might expect Albert Einstein's hobby to involve something complicated: equations on a chalkboard, perhaps, or building gadgets in a laboratory. Instead, the man who gave us the theory of relativity loved nothing more than to take a small sailboat out on a lake and just… drift. No engine. No motor. Just the wind.

Einstein was, by all accounts, a mediocre sailor who didn't particularly worry about being good at it. He called his sailboat Tümmler (German for "porpoise") and used those quiet hours on the water to think. He often said that some of his best ideas came to him while sailing .

3

Abraham Lincoln: Wrestling

Before he was Honest Abe, Lincoln was just a tall, lanky young man from Illinois with remarkably long arms and a low center of gravity—which, as it turns out, makes you a pretty formidable wrestler. He took up the sport as a young man and quickly developed a reputation in his community as someone you really didn't want to tangle with.

Lincoln compiled an outstanding record, with reportedly one defeat in roughly 300 matches. He was so good that he was eventually honored by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame —yes, that's a real place, and yes, Abraham Lincoln is in it.

4

Meryl Streep: Knitting

Meryl Streep is widely considered the greatest actress of her generation, with a record 21 Oscar nominations to date. She's played everything from a Nazi commandant's mistress to Margaret Thatcher. And between takes on set, she knits.

She's said in interviews that knitting helps her stay grounded and present , even in the middle of emotionally demanding shoots. It gives her hands something to do while her mind processes a role. There's also something wonderfully ironic about the most decorated actress in Hollywood finding her peace in something so delightfully ordinary.

5

Tom Hanks: Typewriter collecting

Tom Hanks has won two Oscars, starred in some of the most beloved films in American history, and also owns—by his own estimate—more than 250 typewriters . He started collecting them in the early 1980s when he came across an old machine at a second-hand shop and was instantly hooked by the sound and feel of the keys.

Hanks became such a devoted enthusiast that he wrote an entire book about it: Uncommon Type, a collection of short stories where a typewriter appears in every single tale. He's also said he writes all his personal correspondence by hand or on a typewriter.

6

Steve Martin: Banjo playing

Steve Martin built his career on comedy: the arrow through the head, the wild and crazy guy, the absurdist humor that made him a superstar in the 1970s and '80s. But long before the standup, film, and TV career, there was the banjo. He started learning as a teenager while working at Disneyland, drawn in by the bluegrass musicians performing there.

He never stopped playing. Martin has released multiple bluegrass albums, toured with accomplished musicians, and won a Grammy for his 2009 album The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo . For him, it was never a joke or a gimmick: the banjo is the real deal, and he plays it with genuine heart.

7

Jimmy Carter: Woodworking

Jimmy Carter didn't pick up woodworking as a retirement hobby: he learned it out of necessity. Growing up on a Georgia farm during the Great Depression, his father taught him to be handy with just about everything. He kept at it through shop class and Future Farmers of America, and even built furniture for his own home during his Navy years.

Carter donated many of his handmade pieces to charity auctions benefiting Habitat for Humanity , a cause he championed throughout his post-presidential life. He even joked that a miniature of the White House he once built had nothing to do with his ambitions — though history would suggest otherwise.

8

Theodore Roosevelt: Boxing and judo

Teddy Roosevelt didn't exactly need a tough-guy reputation boost: the man charged up San Juan Hill, for crying out loud. But even as President of the United States, he kept up a regular boxing practice right inside the White House. He'd spar with aides and military officers, seeing it as a way to stay sharp, both mentally and physically.

That hobby came with a real price, though. In 1908, during one sparring session while in office, a punch left him blind in his left eye, a fact he kept secret for years. He later switched to judo, eventually earning a brown belt.

9

Condoleezza Rice: Competitive figure skating

Condoleezza Rice served as National Security Advisor and then Secretary of State under President George W. Bush, two of the most demanding jobs in the world. She's also a trained classical pianist. But here's the one that really catches people off guard: she was a competitive figure skater as a young girl growing up in Birmingham, Alabama.

Rice started skating as a child and trained seriously enough to compete. She has spoken about how the discipline required in skating —the repetition, the commitment, the ability to get up after you fall— shaped the way she approached everything else in her life . From the ice rink to the world stage, the mindset, it turns out, was always the same.

10

George W. Bush: Painting

After leaving the White House in 2009, George W. Bush picked up a paintbrush, and nobody was more surprised than he was by how much he loved it. He started with his dogs and landscapes, quietly teaching himself the basics of oil painting with the help of online tutorials and books.

He eventually moved on to portraits of world leaders, veterans, and immigrants, and held gallery showings of his work . Critics who expected something amateurish were genuinely taken aback by the results. For instance, Washington Post journalist Karen Tumulty summed up the reaction of many when she admitted on social media that Bush's paintings were, surprisingly, kind of edgy.

1

Revolutionary birth

Image: The New York Public Library

America was the first modern nation to declare independence based on Enlightenment ideals. The Declaration of Independence introduced the concept of inherent rights and government by consent, inspiring revolutions in France, Haiti, and Latin America. No other nation at the time had so explicitly tied its founding to liberty and self-rule.

2

Written constitution

Image: Larry Alger

The U.S. Constitution is the oldest still in use today. It created a blueprint for federalism, checks and balances, and individual rights, influencing over 100 countries’ constitutions. The inclusion of the Bill of Rights further established protected freedoms.

3

Peaceful power transfer

Image: Louis Velazquez

The Election of 1800 set a world precedent with a peaceful transfer of power between rival parties. When Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams, it proved that democracy could endure without bloodshed. Many nations had never witnessed a nonviolent regime change.

4

Emancipation Proclamation

Image: J. Amill Santiago

Lincoln’s executive order helped end legal slavery in the U.S. and energized abolition movements abroad. It didn’t immediately free all slaves but made ending slavery a Union war aim. It shifted the Civil War’s moral weight and added global pressure on slaveholding powers.

5

Industrial giant

Image: Birmingham Museums Trust

Post-Civil War, America rapidly became the world’s top industrial power. Fueled by railroads, steel, and oil, U.S. output surpassed Britain’s by 1890. Titans like Rockefeller and Carnegie built vast enterprises and modern corporate models.

6

National Parks system

Image: Jeremy Bishop

Yellowstone became the world’s first national park. America led the way in setting aside land for preservation rather than exploitation. Over time, the U.S. developed the largest and oldest park system in the world.

7

The melting pot

Image: Ferdinand Stöhr

By 1910, nearly 15% of the U.S. population was foreign-born. No other country absorbed as many immigrants in such numbers. Ellis Island processed over 12 million people, and cities transformed with many cultural layers.

8

Cultural exports

Image: Jake Blucker

Jazz, Hollywood, and consumer culture became dominant American exports. By the 1920s, U.S. movies, music, and fashion shaped global tastes. Hollywood became the world’s storytelling engine, and jazz introduced a uniquely American sound.

9

Internet birthplace

Image: Kimberly Nguyen

The U.S. Defense Department developed ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet. By the 1980s, American tech hubs like Silicon Valley were driving digital transformation. Companies like Apple, Microsoft, and later Google reshaped how the world communicates.

10

Space leadership

Image: NASA

America remains the global leader in space exploration and private spaceflight. More than 50 years after the U.S. became the first—and still only—nation to land humans on the Moon, it continues to push the frontier.

1

Your thumb gets a much-needed break

After years of scrolling through everyone's vacation photos, your thumb has basically been doing cardio. Whether you’re relaxing in a place like the Southern Appalachians or the Pacific Northwest, that overworked digit finally gets to rest . Without service, you'll discover it has other talents, such as turning actual pages in a book or striking a match to start an evening fire.

The first day feels weird, like you've forgotten your wallet. By day two, you'll notice your hand isn't automatically reaching for your pocket every five minutes.

2

Mornings without emails are magical

Imagine waking up without that immediate cortisol spike from seeing 47 unread emails. In a no-service cabin, your morning starts with coffee on the porch and actual bird sounds instead of notification pings.

Your boss's "urgent" request about the quarterly report can wait until Monday. Mother Nature doesn't have Wi-Fi, and honestly, she's doing just fine without it.

3

Conversations get interesting again

Without phones to fact-check every debate, dinner conversations become adventures . You'll actually have to remember things or admit you don't know something. Someone will insist that a movie came out in 1987, someone else swears it was '89, and you'll never resolve it.

The beauty is, it doesn't matter. You're too busy laughing and telling stories to care who's right.

4

You sleep as you did in your twenties

Without blue light blasting your eyeballs until midnight, your body remembers how to sleep properly . The mountain air helps too: There's something about that fresh, pine-scented breeze that works better than any sleep app.

You'll wake up actually rested instead of groggy. No 3 a.m. phone checks, no falling down social media rabbit holes when you should be sleeping—just solid, deep, restorative rest.

5

The stars will blow your mind

City lights and phone screens have stolen the night sky from us. Out in the deep wilderness, with zero light pollution and nothing to scroll through, you'll actually look up. The Milky Way isn't just a candy bar; it's a river of stars you can see with your naked eye.

Bring a blanket, lie on your back, and prepare to feel wonderfully small. You might even see a shooting star, and without your phone, you'll actually experience the moment instead of trying to photograph it .

6

Reignite your relationship with your partner

When you can't zone out on your phone, you have to actually talk to each other . Crazy concept, right? You'll remember why you liked this person in the first place. Without digital distractions, you might have conversations that go deeper than "what do you want for dinner?"

Plus, there's something romantic about being genuinely unreachable together. It's just the two of you against the mountains, like you're the last people on Earth.

7

Boredom becomes interesting

Here's something nobody tells you: Boredom is actually good for you . When your brain isn't constantly entertained, it starts wandering into interesting territory. You might finally figure out that problem at work, or remember a dream you had, or just notice how pretty the light looks through the trees.

Kids used to complain they were bored, and their parents said, "Go outside and find something to do." Turns out that advice works for adults, too. You'll be amazed at what you notice when you're not staring at a screen.

8

Real books make a comeback

Without the internet's constant interruptions, you'll rediscover what it's like to lose yourself in a story for hours . No tabs to check, no notifications to dismiss. Just you and the page.

There's something satisfying about the physical act of turning pages that a Kindle just can't match, especially with a wood fire crackling nearby.

9

Board games don't seem lame anymore

Suddenly, that dusty Scrabble set in the cabin's closet looks pretty appealing. When your entertainment options shrink, simple pleasures expand. You'll find yourself actually enjoying a game of cards or Monopoly.

10

You return home as a better version of yourself

After a few days off the grid, you'll notice something strange: you don't immediately need to check everything you missed. The world kept spinning without your constant monitoring, and that's oddly liberating. You might even keep your phone on silent for a while.

That mountain calm sticks with you, at least for a few days. You'll find yourself less anxious, more present , maybe even a little smug about your digital detox.