You are considering whether to buy a product. You look at the reviews. Would the following review decrease or increase the chances of you buying the product?
Review title: Badly Dated
Product review: Readers should be aware that this study was first published in 1953, and despite light revision reflects the state of scholarship half a century ago. We've learned a LOT about the history of Christianity since then, and many of the sweeping assumptions of this book (e.g., in the ghastly section entitled "The Darkest Hours: The Great Recession, A.D. 500-950") have been thoroughly discredited. The bibliographies for each section don't include works published in the past half century (despite the so-called revision). Even the very language is dated, with its grandiose, sweeping style, capitalization of popes, etc. This book perpetuates a great many old myths, making the job of historians of religion just that much harder. There are now much better books on the market.
