Effectively reading physics review articles

[WannabeNewton]

I have the rather fortunate task of reading to completion Eric Poisson's review article on point particle equations of motion in curved spacetime, http://relativity.livingreviews.org/Articles/lrr-2011-7/ . It's a rather long and very technical review. I've only ever read one review article in a dedicated fashion to completion and it was Baumann's TASI lectures on inflation. Unlike most reviews it was actually quite easy to read and it came with exercises to make sure you understood each chapter of the article. Most review articles, including Poisson's, don't do that. But topics like those in Poisson's article can't really be found in textbooks so the review articles are the best available resources. As such, how do you effectively read them? Passively reading physics almost never helps you learn and Poisson's article doesn't come with exercies. So how do you go about making sure you actually understood the material in the review? Is the only available way to apply it to whatever research project youre working on?

 

[ZetaOfThree]

You may find the following helpful:
http://hackerspace.lifehacker.com/the-easiest-way-to-actively-read-476078116