TITLE: Review papers in mathematics
QUESTION [9 upvotes]: Are there review papers, literature reviews in mathematics that describe the recent developments in various fields for a newcomer? Or is the prerequisite knowledge always provided in research monographs and textbooks? That's one can read research papers and make contributions to a field after reading some textbooks or monographs? In physics, all textbooks in my area of interest seem outdated and I should read review articles (see string wiki) that summarize more recent development. I wonder if there are review articles that describe the most important recent achievements in geometry, Analysis, algebra etc.

REPLY [6 votes]: For the last ten years or so, David Eisenbud has organized a "Current Events Bulletin" session at the January joint math meetings, in which, typically, four speakers survey recent work in various fields, with a booklet of the survey papers available at the time of the meeting (and permanently at the website).  Here is a portion of Eisenbud's description:

The Current Events Bulletin Session at the Joint Mathematics Meetings,
  begun in 2003, is an event where the speakers do not report on their
  own work, but survey some of the most interesting current developments
  in mathematics, pure and applied.  The wonderful tradition of the
  Bourbaki Seminar is an inspiration, but we aim for more accessible
  treatments and a wider range of subjects.