Shame of Man

Geodyssey #2

by Piers Anthony

Beginning in the earliest origins of our ancient ancestors who emerged from the Eden of Africa millions of years ago, Shame of Man follows two lovers—Hugh, a dreamer and musician, and his beloved Ann, a beautiful dancer—as they struggle to preserve their family and way of life during some of the most turbulent periods of our savage past.

Their saga takes them from the caves of prehistoric Europe to the Holy Land in the time of King David, through the imperial court of third-century Japan, and Damascus in the early days of Islam, to Central Asia in the era of Genghis Khan, and the fallen paradise of Easter Island, concluding with a harrowing glimpse of our future, in the wreckage of a world devastated by global ecological catastrophe.

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Science Fiction, Ebooks, Science Fiction Fantasy

380 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Though he spent the first four years of his life in England, Piers never returned to live in his country of birth after moving to Spain and immigrated to America at age six. After graduating with a B.A. from Goddard College, he married one of his fellow students and and spent fifteen years in an assortment of professions before he began writing fiction full-time.

Piers is a self-proclaimed environmentalist and lives on a tree farm in Florida with his wife. They have two grown daughters.

Reviews

[Joey · Rating 5 out of 5]

These books are simply amazing. The concept sounds gimmicky, but it works quite well. The trilogy follows a family through the eons of human development. At the beginning, they are pre-human primates, and each chapter finds them evolving gradually through history and even (by the end of book 3) into our future. The story takes up generally where it left off, although the protagonists are in different times and sometimes places with each new chapter.

The result is a sweeping epic that examines what it means to be human. It's the story of one family, with the story of the whole human race thrown in to boot. If the literary world didn't look down it's nose at anything that could be lumped into a genre like science fiction, fantasy, or horror, these books would be considered classics.

[Todd Wittenmyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Geodyssey series. It covers an 8 million year span in man's journey to become, well, us! There are chapters dealing with the development of social structures, food gathering, warfare, etc. There are also chapters dealing with more recent civilizations and their journeys: Philistines, Phonecians, (the Punic Wars), Japanese royalty, the formation of Islam, Easter Island, and even Tasmania in 2050! I really like this series and plan to read all of the books. I gave this 4 stars!

[Dani Schwegel · Rating 2 out of 5]

The concept of the book is great, it's what I loved about the first one. Shame of Man though became one of those books I had to force myself to finish because I had started it. Pretty much every six pages involved attempted rape or "they had sex", to the point where it was turned into a drinking game. There really wasn't much of a story to this book, it just followed Hue and his woe-is-me tale about being left-handed during different time periods and how they adapted to the climate/terrain change.

[Ben Lund · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked this more than the first one, but something about ANthony's writing still falls flat for me. I don't know if it just hasn't aged well, or my reading preferences have changed or what it is, but I find it a struggle to get into these books. Every couple chapters I have to read part of another book to kind of refresh myself to get back into this one, hence it is a slow process.

That being said, I did like this one more than the first. It seemed more thought out and researched, and I enjoyed following just one family instead of keeping track of two families like in the first one. I do wish that Anthony didn't feel the need to repeat the same information EVERY. SINGLE. CHAPTER. We get it, she's a dancer, he's a musician. It seems like Anthony assumes all his readers have alzheimer's, and can't remember the last chapter when we start the next one. For all my gripes, I can't rate it above 2 stars, it's not a bad read, but the issues that plague this book do not make it the most enjoyable read either.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me, if this book was meant to educate in either history or evolution (or something), it didn't. If it was meant as entertainment, I didn't really get that either. The lack of any real plot to the inter-connected stories, and the lack of any real change in characters from story to story, and really, a somewhat lack of change in what happened in each story, resulted, again for me, in a rather long book. That is what I can say about this book. It was a bit long.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthony has a neat concept with these books, but they're a chore to get through. The stories get a little repetitive and there's a heavy focus on eroticism. His theme of natural preservation does not run the whole way through the book, so the argument he makes for it in his notes falls a bit flat.

[Trudy Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The rise and fall of mankind. Follows Hugh and his family from the chimp age to the future. The shame is how mankind abuses the environment. Excellent. Doesn’t follow regular history and evolution theories.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how the stories follow families reincarnated over time and the message of environmentalism carries through the entire series. Here we follow Hugh and Ann and their more difficult relationship.

[Sandy Carmichael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having read and enjoyed the 1st in this series "Isle of Woman" thought I would like this one too; but after getting half way thru realized it was "more of the same" as the 1st---got tired of it.

[Grecia Ramirez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like a continuation of Isle of Woman, but with different characters in different periods of history. This was such a fascinating concept.

[Jacob Watters · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Excellent followup to "Isle of Woman", and the last in the series, in my opinion, to be worthy to great read.

[Shannon McGee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is sequel to Isle of Woman, which I did like a lot This one was good but not as good as the first. Shame of Man mostly revolved around the character Hue, or Hugh or other variations of his was used also. Revolving around one character made it different from the first book because the first had two main characters and it was more of a love story. This one was more about struggles of man versus evil or man vs. survival. There was more history and mythology involved in this also, which I found in parts were kinda of dry and hard for my thought process. I had a problem with trying to figure out in each chapter reincarnation, who was who because their names changed slightly each time to fit the area a time period. It also had characters from the first book in the series so I was trying to remember them as well and sometimes coming up blank. Then there was new character to which I would try to figure out if I had met them yet. So that made it a little frustrating. I still like the book and the thought of the way it is written but whether I will read the third one in the series, Hope of Earth, is up in the air. On one side I really liked Isle of Woman but on the other Shame of Man was only so so. Maybe it was just the fact that the story was man vs. evil and that there is always a balancing act between the two and not yay good won! I don’t know resembles life to much for me. Yet if it had been yay good wins I probably would have said predicable.

[Jeremiah Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've come to realize that Piers Anthony is a dirty old man. There wasn't as much sex and rape as was in the first book, but still more than was necessary (none would have probably been just fine.)
The storyline in this book is much more congruous throughout the ages unlike the first one. This made it easier to relate to the new surroundings.
The history presented is very interesting.
One thing I can't stand in books are flashbacks to things that happened earlier in the book. This happens nearly every chapter as the previous events are recounted in the new setting.
The last thing that really annoyed me are the names of some of the people. Bb, Ss, Vk, Beebub, Scevo... Seriously, that creative huh? Why no vowels in the neandertal names. They didn't have written language so having unpronounceable names is just stupid.

[Kristen (belles_bookshelves) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Warm-bodied creatures, notably the mammals, do dream. Why? Nature does not institute such procedures without reason. That reason is straightforward, though as yet generally unrecognized in science: the dreams represent important work being done. They relate to memory: a person deprived of dreaming suffers in the formation and retention of new memories."

The only reason I don't rate this with the 5 stars I rated Isle of Woman is because there the premise was new and exciting and here it's the same plot. But the main characters are different, the times we visit in human history are different, and the problems we encounter as a species are different.

Still an amazing, epic of humanity: triumphs and defeats, love and loss, despair and hope.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

It almost scares me how many Piers Anthony books I have read, and I've learned one thing while doing so; That the man has very interesting ideas, but tends to write tedious stories that all feel the same (protagonist men that an inordinate amount of women are inexplicably drawn to, female characters that are more like the idea of a person than an actual person, rape, and men faced with oversexed young girls who are weak). I really enjoyed the idea of mankind's story told through the experiences of one man and his family progressing in time, but found the actual telling kind of flat. The characters never felt like people and the stories felt banal.

[Thomas Quatrale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second book in the Geodyssey series, following Isle of Woman.
More of the same, following Mankind though pre history and history with different locales and some new characters who get reincarnated over and over, as we follow them though time. Truly a unique series, and worth a read on that basis alone. Sticks with the original theme that the same traits that allowed Man to be so successful are also the same traits that may now be leading to his ultimate destruction.

[Ruth Soz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never been a big fan of science fiction, but this is definitely an exception. Such an interesting concept. Spanning over millions of years, each book involves a theme and a single set of characters living life through several diffent time periods throughout world history. Although very entertaining and enjoyable, I found myself learning a bit too.

[Patricia Lemieux · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the follow-on book to Isle of Women. Both cover thousands of years of history. From the historical standpoint they're very interesting to read how man progresses through the centuries. Some of his conjectures are based on archaeological research and are fascinating. These are not quick reads though, it took me almost three weeks to make it through 400 pages.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shame of Man (Geodyssey, #2)
by Piers Anthony
the shame of man is more environmentally lecturing, with out the gruesome cannibalism, it does explain the contradiction of man and his ideology of humanity.

[John Dixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's refreshing to see someone doing a project that they want to do for their own satisfaction. I enjoyed it, but you can see the seams sometimes. I couldn't always tell whether it was intentional or not. I will probably read the next one after a break.

[Laura Floyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not as good as the first one, but still very enjoyable.

[Karlheinz Kobras · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again a nice way to teach history. Some events are covered and again always the "same" people are attending.

[Lauren Willshire]

Slow but informative.

[JustJams · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF---I loved the first book in this series so much. I am surprised that this book just isn't as interesting. It is repetitive and rather dirty.

[Angela Ferrari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. It was interesting that the same characters and situations were used in the different time frames throughout history. That was a nice touch

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

reread. huge slog this time-i wonder why I enjoyed it so as a teenager?

[Eddie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Blurgh!

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Young adult 10-15