Same warning I gave last time someone recommended Institutes. Reading it can make you go into judgmental mode. Be careful. (Not saying "don't read it." Saying it's a long enough book to change you in good ways and bad ways, so check spirit with God often while reading it.)
I read it years ago, and have reread it a couple of times since...(now on kindle lol). It's like any theological learning (reformed or other) it can make one think they are something... rather than humbling them, and the knowledge changing them. I remember being told by a teacher that knowledge without love ...is like a clanging symbol (it took me a while to really understand that!)
There are many more systematic theologies out there that are aimed at a more varied level of reading. But you are correct, and i would say that any theological learning can turn one into a clanging symbol. We need to engage any learning with both the intellect and the heart.
So its a good warning to all of us... do not be a clanging symbol.