A?mad Ibn ?awq's Ta?l?q (d. 1510) is one of only a few examples that survived from an indigenous arabic diary tradition which lasted about a thousand years. It is also by far the most extensive one, its edition amounting to almost 2,000 pages covering twenty years.Despite considerable scholarly attention in recent years, this is the first monograph dedicated to the Ta?l?q, not as a source but as the subject of inquiry. To these ends, Torsten Wollina discusses it as an ego-document shedding new light on the interdependence of text form and presented information.The first of four chapters frames the study by placing the Ta?l?q within the arabic diary tradition, which conformed both to the needs of historians (as primary sources) and to those of each author (as a pragmatic text for everyday use). Chapters 2 and 3 give attention to Ibn ?awq's worldview, treating his household and his social contacts in the wider world, respectively. The final chapter addresses the author's self image and the concepts of self available in his times.