From John MacGibbon of Ngaio Press:
I far prefer browse-flicking through real books. (But note that the KAIST Institute of Information Technology has demonstrated a 'Smart E-Book Interface Prototype' that would let you more naturally browse through an ebook on the iPad. It lets you scan 20 or 30 pages at a time, do multiple page flips that are controlled by the speed of your finger swipe, and even holding your thumb on one page and flipping through the book with your fingers. There's a video demonstration here. It's something to look forward to on the iPad and other tablets, but I can't see it flying with the current crop of e-ink readers.)
This would help get around a huge drawback to ebooks. The video is quite impressive. The YouTube demo link is in the text above, but in case it doesn’t work, here it is again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rVyBwz1-AiE