 I like to pretend I'm gonna read on my tablet, but instead I wind up on Twitter or YouTube or more likely than not playing a game. When I need to read or really want to curl up with a good book, I get out my e-reader. It might seem like a superfluous thing, a purchase you don't really need, but I disagree. I think everyone should have it. The thing about buying an e-reader is you're never just buying an e-reader. You're buying into a huge ecosystem. You're committing to downloading certain books and not others, certain features and not others, you're committing to downloading certain apps and not others. You really have to pick right up front. Of course you don't have to think about things like battery life or screen size. Those are all basically the same. What you do have to think about is how you'll get the books you want, what other features you want, and how and where you want to read. Before you even pick a device, you're gonna have to pick a company. Kobo and Amazon are the two companies that matter here and you're gonna be buying from one of the two of them. But ultimately it comes down to books, right? That's why the Kindle Paperwhite is the best e-reader you can buy. Actually I should rephrase, it's not the best e-reader you can buy, but it's the one you should buy. The Paperwhite has all the features a good e-reader needs. Its battery lasts two months, it has a nice front light that makes it easy to read in bed without hurting your eyes, and it has a touchscreen that responds quickly when you swipe to flip pages. It has a sharp six inch e-ink screen and it's small and light and able to survive anything you can throw at it. The Paperwhite has a really simple, really easy interface for both reading and buying books plus a lot of great added features for when you're reading. X-Ray is the best one, just tap on a name or place and it'll give you all the context for that character or location in the book. If you've read The Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones, you know how helpful that is. There's also Goodreads integration which puts you right in the middle of the world's largest book focused social network. Amazon has great apps for every platform too so you can read on any device you own. But the real reason the Paperwhite wins is the reason Amazon wins. It just has more books. I did a survey of both popular lists and the books my friends are reading and found that not only did Amazon have more of them available than Kobo, almost every single one was cheaper. Now here's the weird thing about that. Amazon is at war with publishers, trying to make books cheaper while the publishers and authors say that that's costing them their livelihood. So make moral decisions as you want to, but the objective fact is that there are more books to read from Amazon than from Kobo and most of them will be cheaper. Period. There are a million different types of Kindle, each with something to offer. The Voyage is the best e-reader on the planet with a gorgeous flush screen, an adaptive backlight and page turn buttons that I actually really like. But it's not that much better than the Paperwhite and it's a lot more expensive. The regular Kindle is the opposite. It's really cheap but has a much worse screen and no backlight. Those things do matter and it's actually worth spending a little bit more on the Paperwhite. My recommendation is the Wi-Fi Paperwhite with special offers. The ads save you a little money and they're really not that bad. And unless you're out all day every day downloading books, the 3G upgrade really isn't worth it. You won't spend much with the Wi-Fi Paperwhite and you'll get everything you need. But don't forget about Kobo. Kobo actually has a lot going for it. The Aura H2O is the best one. It has a great screen and best of all it's waterproof so you can read in the tub or take it to the beach with you. I also love Kobo's pocket integration which means you can save articles and web pages and then read them later on your e-reader. Kobo also supports a lot of other file formats. So in general there are more types of things you can read on a Kobo than on a Kindle. It has little things like more font options too. If you're really picky about reading you might really want to try out a Kobo. If you really want a waterproof device buy the Aura H2O. It's great. But for every other use and every other price Kindle still wins. It's just about the book selection. I have really mixed feelings about the Nook Glowlite. It's good hardware and has a good bookstore but it's a little outdated now and it's part of a brand of devices that has never seemed like it has a certain future. I'd just steer clear. I should also mention these so-called reading tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook but only to say don't buy them. If you want a tablet buy a tablet. You'll get all the versatility and power a tablet offers from something like the Nexus 7 or the iPad. Reading tablets just tend to be cheap not very good tablets. E-readers are great because they're single purpose because they do one thing exceptionally well and do nothing else. A tablet isn't even supposed to match that. Personally I own a tablet and an e-reader. I use them both all the time. And the e-reader I own is the Kindle Paperweight because it's the best mix of price and features and it's the best way to get the most books for the least money. That's a tough combination to beat and it's a perfect one for an e-reader.