Robert Shields, 77, of Dayton, Wash., is the author of perhaps the longest personal diary in history. His recordings of his daily events — all of them, including his trips to the bathroom — was started in 1972 and now stretches to 37.5 million words. Since having a stroke in 1991, his output has slowed to a mere 1 million words per year, but he still manages to transcribe his daily jottings on a typewriter, a task that takes about four hours a day. July 25, 1993, 7 a.m.: “I cleaned out the tub and scraped my feet with my fingernails to remove layers of dead skin.” Jan. 27, 1994, 9:55 a.m.: “Jim Broatch of Milford, Conn., called … he is head of some sort of organization that deals with compulsion and I admitted the diary was ‘an obsession of sorts.’ He is sending me free literature about the organization.” Shields isn’t recording his life to aid future historians. Rather, “you might say I’m a nut,” he says simply. (AP)<\/p>\n

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Robert Shields, 77, of Dayton, Wash., is the author of perhaps the longest personal diary in history. His recordings of his daily events — all of them, including his trips to the bathroom — was started in 1972 and now stretches to 37.5 million words. Since having a stroke in 1991, his output has slowed … <\/p>\n

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