[crystal_revenge]

I suspect, for a lot of math students, Real Analysis is the first introduction to "real math" and is frequently taught assuming such. I found, at least in undergrad, that a fair bit of students that think they are "good at math" are really "good at calculation" and Real Analysis is quite a shock for anyone coming from that perspective.

It's unfortunate that many students studying math more causally or as a prerequisite for other fields don't get a chance to study Real Analysis because, in addition to this difficulty (from lack of exposure), it's also a great introduction to the beauty of mathematics.

I'm about as far as one can get from a practicing mathematician, but I still find myself pulling out the baby Rudin from time to time just for the pure pleasure of wandering through it.

[dunham]

I had baby Rudin for my undergrad class (I don't remember which book I had in grad school), and I kept that one when I downsized my book collection in case I want to refresh my memory someday. At the time, I was more interested in algebra and combinatorics. I also kept my copy of Herstein.

25 years later I've forgotten most of it. But recently I've turned my attention to type theory, category theory, and related topics. I have little spare time and the amount of interesting topics to explore is daunting, but it's fascinating. (I've always been interested in mathematical foundations, too.)