In 1937 Turing described a Turing machine. Since then many models of computation have been decribed in attempt to find a model which is like a real computer but still simple enough to design and analyse algorithms.

As a result, we have dozen of algorithms for, e.g., SORT-problem for different models of computation. Unfortunately, we even cannot be sure that an implementation of an algorithm with running time $O(n)$ in a word RAM with bit-vector operations allowed will run faster than an an implementation of an algorithm with running time $O(n \cdot \log{n})$ in a word RAM (I am talking about "good" implementations only, of course).

So, I want to understand which of existing models is "the best" for designing algorithms and I am looking for an up-to-date and detailed survey on models of computation, which gives pros and cons of models and their closeness to reality.