An unusually detailed diarySourced
A life recorded in five-minute intervals
Robert Shields recorded his everyday life in five-minute intervals from 1972 to 1997. Ordinary tasks such as changing light bulbs entered the diary, which filled 91 boxes. He donated it to Washington State University in 1999.
Small details from uneventful days can accumulate into an enormous archive.
Summary / translation: Unbubly · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Robert Shields (diarist) · Wikimedia contributors
Adapted, summarized and translated from the source. Adapted text is also available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Reviewed: 2026-10-10