What is a diversity-aware reading log?
A reading log is a record of the books you read. A diversity-aware reading log adds one more view on top of that record: it shows you the range of voices and perspectives across what you read, so you can see the shape of your reading, not just its length. This page explains what that means, why readers find it useful, and how Litmus does it.
The idea in one sentence
Most of us have a rough sense that we would like to read more widely, but no way to check whether we actually do. A diversity-aware reading log turns that vague intention into something visible: a picture of the authors and themes across your shelf, so “read more widely” becomes a thing you can look at instead of just hope for.
What it looks at
Two signals do most of the work:
The first is who wrote the book. Over a year, is your shelf drawn from a broad set of authors, or a narrow one? Author background is the strongest signal, because who you read shapes what you read.
The second is what the book is about: its themes. A shelf can be full of different authors and still circle the same handful of subjects, or range widely across many. Looking at themes catches the part that author information alone misses.
Litmus reads the signals already attached to your books from public sources and shows you the mix across both. It rolls this into a single diversity score you can watch over time, with the breakdown behind it, so you can see which part is broad and which is narrow.
What it is not
A diversity-aware log is a mirror, not a scold. A few principles matter here:
It is conservative by design. Litmus will leave a book untagged rather than guess at a person. It would rather show you less than show you something it is not sure of.
It never lectures. There is no target you are failing to hit and no nagging. The score is information about your own shelf, for you, to do with as you like.
It is private and in your control. You choose what to share, you can keep your profile private, and you can mark any single book private so it stays off every public surface while still counting in your own stats.
Why readers keep one
People keep a diversity-aware log for the same reason they track anything: what gets measured gets noticed. Readers use it to break out of a rut, to find voices they would otherwise have missed, and to be a little more intentional about what they pick up next, without turning reading into homework. The point is not to hit a quota. It is to read more of what matters to you, with your eyes open to the whole spectrum of what is out there.
If you want to see it on your own shelf, you can import your existing library and Litmus will fill in the picture within a short while, or start fresh and watch it build as you read.