The Mediterranean is widely caricatured as an ideal natural laboratory within which to study tectonic processes. Yet describing the region as geologically complex barely begins to do justice to the history of continental rifting, formation of oceanic crust, subduction, collision, back-arc spreading, continental escape tectonics and other strike-slip deformations. And that's just for the past two hundred million years or so, never mind the collaging of different crustal types inherited from late Palaeozoic orogeny. A multi-vehicle motorway pile-up may be a better-constrained laboratory for metallurgists than the region is for tectonic geologists. But while it may not be ideal for genetic tectonic understanding, the Mediterranean is important for the huge intellectual endeavours of generations of geoscientists who live around or close to its shores – and to those who strive to understand the geological history of western Tethys. Consequently there is a constant stream of conferences, symposia, and resultant publications on Mediterranean tectonics.

Two of the more recent additions to the canon have been published by the Geological Society of London. Both are effectively conference proceedings. Special Publication 260 derives from the Fifth International Symposium on Eastern Mediterranean Geology (Thessaloniki, 2004). It follows a run of volumes arising from such specialist conferences, perhaps the most influential being the Society's own Special Publication 17 that appeared back in 1984. Special Publication 262 deals with the Western Mediterranean and arises from a symposium on the Geology of the Mediterranean held at the 32^nd International Geological Congress (Florence, 2004).

Undoubtedly both 260 and 262 will be of interest to the various groups of researchers who specialize in the geology of their respective regions. But to reach a general audience the volumes need coherent reviews of regional geology that cut through the prosaic terminology of continental blocks and structures. In SP 260 Alastair Robertson and Demosthenes Mountrakis make a noble effort to outline some of the critical research issues in the Tethyan belts of eastern Europe and attempt to lend clarity to the bewildering array of local terminology. The Tethyan ophiolites get lots of useful coverage, especially in the review article by Alan Smith. And Robertson struggles valiantly to review the use of stratigraphic data to deduce the tectonic evolution of the southern margin of the Tethyan realm. So this volume goes some way to reach new readers. The Western Mediterranean volume 262 has some interesting articles on the North African orogenic systems that are rather under-reported generally, and an informative review of the enigmatic late Cretaceous calc-turbidites of the Alps and Apennines, by Andrea Argnani and coworkers. But there is no overview or introduction to the volume so that the whole is little more than a collection of research papers.

Both books are strongly weighted towards stratigraphic approaches. In contrast there is a distinct lack of modern lithosphere geophysics. Surely any modern tectonic overview needs this, and images of deep structure. While these books will interest Mediterranean aficionados I suspect that newcomers to the region may find the details and complexity even more bewildering than ever.