Why I like and fear the iPad

Okay, dunnit. I am reading George Eliot's Middlemarch on an iPad. I can't say I'm won over entirely - but pretty close. A few notes and observations: This is literally my 4th try at re-reading Middlemarch: had an old pb edition that I probably read first in the '80s and it was falling apart as I tried to red it; then borroed a Norton Critical edition and the point size was microscopic, sorry, even college students wouldn't be able to read it; then borrowed a two-volume illustrated edition, each volume about 400 pages - but in those days thes elibrary editions were printed on very heavy stock, and each volume weighs several pounds and I literally sprained my left thumb trying to hold the book while reading - so the iPad is a huge improvement on many scores: you can choose the font (though I do like the default Iowan) and the point size (I upped mine slightly from the default - funny to watch the total pages # jump from 1004 to about 1380). Those the iPad is probably slightly heavier than a pb edition, its slim shape makes it easy to hold and manage. And of course it's backlit - best solution ever for reading in bed (which I rarely do, partly because of poor lighting) or in weak light. Yes, I miss some things about actually holding a book, the ability to easily flip back to check an earlier reference (though iPads have a great search feature, which has allowed me to track down passages very easily), the lack of cover art, which often gives a book its own personality (though sometimes misleadingly - e.g., many of the Penguins with beautiful cover art that often has no direct bearing on the novel or the author - it's kind of amazing how seldom authors have any say on the cover art for their books, their "product" you might say), the lack of section headings (at least in the edition of M. I'm reading), and the general cold, techie quality of the book: a book is a comforting object and a physical record of our intellectual life, and with electronic readers, that's all gone. I also am a marginalia scribbler (often, not always) as I'm reading - and the "notes" feature on the iPad is OK for an important notation but not really inviting or easy and not likely to be a source of reference in future readings 20 years from now, god willing, or ever. I should feel guilty that the edition I'm reading is a  public-domain free version - makes me wonder how long any publisher will bother to keep classics in print when competing against zero cost. All told, iPads are great option for many readers or for many books for all readers but I think, I hope, they don't entirely displace the actual physical book in my life, and in my lifetime.