[nicklaf]

William Dunham's "Journey Through Genius" is a fantastic book. It is one of the best pieces of expository writing on mathematics that I have ever read. Almost anybody can pick it up, it reads like a novel; it dives directly into some very germane case studies of classical analysis, and then interweaves them into a brilliant narrative. It begins very simply, starting with Newton, but very quickly progresses to more recent (and more fascinating) chapters.

Having this book on your shelf so that you can pick it up when curiosity strikes, or when you find yourself at a creative dead-end, would be an excellent way to complement the study of a traditional text on real analysis (Dunham's book has no exercises, or even definitions and theorems in the style of a traditional math book).