Who wants to bet that if Skyrim came out earlier, say in the mid 90s, reading the scroll would have far more serious consequences, like a permanent stat decrease or something? There once was a time when you could have real consequences in role-playing games. Nowadays it seems that every game is made so that it is impossible to screw anything up...
For an anologue. If you tried to use keening or sunder without wraithguard in Morrowind you'd be afflicted with Mortal wound which would typically kill you.(If you get both tools and are quick enough, you can still beat the game without wraithguard though)