Every time I think I might be blogging too much, I'll come back to this post....

"For twenty years, Robert Shields of Dayton, Washington, has kept a written record of absolutely everything that has happened to him, day and night. For no less than four hours each day, Shields holes himself up in the small office in his home, turns on his stereo, and types. His diary, at 35 million words, is believed to be the world’s longest.

A page from the diary, in which he assiduously jots down everything he does, every five minutes.

There is a wonderful interview with Shields, unfortunately too long to reprint, in Holding On: Dreamers, Visionaries, Eccentrics, and Other American Heroes, a book by David Isay and the photographer Harvey Wang.

Robert Shields records everything he eats. He records his blood pressure and pulse at various times during the day, the temperature outside and in, every conversation he has, every piece of junk mail he receives. He sleeps no more than two hours at a time so that he can record his dreams.

Robert Shields has also scotch-taped a variety of his life’s keepsakes into this diary. For instance: samples of his nasal hair.

If Shields is still alive, he would be 87 years old."