Fifty
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have you guys read the Conquest of Mexico by Prescott, and what did you think about it?
I haven't read it but I glanced at it for 2 seconds once at a bookstore, which was plenty of time for me to form the following judgment on it:
There are almost definitely more contemoprary works that address the exact same subject in a more engaging and relevant style, and probably with more historical accuracy. Nonetheless, there will always be a group of young males who look at it, see how thick it is, the fact that it was written a while ago, etc., and decide that they must read it. They will never gain as much out of it as they could have gained from reading a more contemporary treatment of the same subject, but they do get one thing they couldn't have otherwise gotten, namely the self-satisfaction at being intellectual enough to read a big old thick book like that. They will make posts on internet history forums about how it "really is the best" and how its "tough going at times, but worth it", but in reality they don't have anything near the requisite level of expertise to make those judgments. Rather, they just make those judgments doing so makes them look very discerning and scholarly. In fact, it will be amazing if they even finish the thing. More likely, they will buy it with the firm resolve of reading it, picturing themselves spending hours immersed in its archaic but oh-so-intellectual style, gaining insight upon insight into the history of whatever. Then they'll go home, read about the first 35 pages before they get enamoured by the next "big old classic" they must read (for which the same process will happen), and it ends up getting shelved forever.
You're an old dude though, so maybe you'd have a good reason for reading it. Still, I strongly suspect that more contemporary works would be better.