One of these things is not like the other

I generally like Garrison Keillor, but sometimes he does make me wince. I get The Writer's Almanac emailed to me every day, and today's entry featured this little gem on Samuel Pepys, whose birthday it is:

His constant fear of losing his position made him an extremely hard worker, and he eventually worked his way up to the top of society. Pepys began his diary in 1659, and he would keep it for almost ten years. No one knows what inspired him to start it, but he was a great collector. He collected ship models, scientific instruments, portraits, ballads, money and women, and some critics see his diary as an attempt to collect his whole experience of the world.

It's tongue-in-cheek, right? Please tell me it's tongue-in-cheek.