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Tempo: timing, tactics and strategy in narrative-driven decision-making Paperback – March 31, 2011

by Venkatesh Guru Rao (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars 15 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 176 pages
  • Publisher: Ribbonfarm Inc (March 31, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0982703007
  • ISBN-13: 978-0982703007
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.4 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136,101 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 starsOff Tempo
By John on November 16, 2011
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I wanted to like this book as I've been following the author's blog for a few months and generally find his ideas to be interesting. I cannot, however, recommend this book. The writing and layout of the book are stilted and the presented ideas are not as groundbreaking as the author thinks.

First, the writing in the book is not good. You will enjoy it if you like reading the typical academic paper that uses lots of jargon and fancy words to express ideas that could be more simply explained. One gets the impression that the author is smart, knows you know he's smart, and yet still wants to show you he's smart. Ugh. There are many paragraphs in the text that seemingly are there for clarity and exemplification of the ideas discussed, but they often exist as one off explanations that do not build into any larger story. To riff off the author's ideas, they are notes in a piece of music waiting for resolution.

The layout of the book is like a dissertation (an observation my wife made as she leafed through the pages). It actually leads to a cluttered reading experience as each subheading within a chapter is given a number, and then each sub-subheading is given its own number. The book is 150 pages long, would it be difficult for me to find what I'd need to without these numbers?

One might say I struggle to find something to critique by pointing to the numbering of the chapters, but as the book itself notes, these subtle choices make an impression (often subconscious) on the energy or 'tempo' of a story. Ironically, it seems, the author spends many pages discussing the wide applicability of his ideas, but he never bothered to recognize his own text is laconic. Quite frankly, the book became a slog to push through despite its small size.Read more ›
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3.0 out of 5 starsA useful collection of patterns to think about how organizations behave ...
By Stefano Bertolo on September 18, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
A useful collection of patterns to think about how organizations behave and organize themselves. The argument style is however completely qualitative, with no clear predictions, much less predictions matched against carefully researched data. The book also feels a bit hostage to its Zeitgeist: if a pop-psychology idea was in a TED talk or on some fampus blog in the last few years, chances are you'll find it mentioned in this book (one could say that the TED series is imposing its tempo on the content selection of this book). That said, I'd still recommend it as a read for anyone who wants to think a bit more broadly than most people who surround them. Finally, the author's blog ribbonfarm.com is actually better than the book itself.
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3.0 out of 5 starsGreat ideas, poorly conveyed
By Surafel on March 8, 2013
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Tempo contains great ideas: there is a "tempo" to everything from cooking to driving to conversing. Mr. Rao takes the word 'tempo' to mean something quite different from its context in music (tempo is like the frequency or speed of a song's rhythm); however according to Mr. Rao tempo is a measure of any activity consisting of three elements: rhythm, energy, and emotion. The book talks about how people make sense out of raw data, organize their thoughts and make decisions. He synthesizes ideas from physics, psychology, philosophy, war, theater, and a number of other domains. This is a great endeavor.

While the ideas are great, the way in which Mr. Rao conveys them is really poor. Mr. Rao seems to have written it in ways that are more difficult for the readers to understand than it needs to be. This could partly be due to the fact that English is not Mr. Rao's native language. More than once I have wondered whether he translated his concepts directly from his native language to English. I was frequently tempted to put down the book because of his poor writing style. Another irritating fact about Mr. Rao's writing is that throughout the book he often mentions ideas and stories related to the subject, but never discusses them in any meaningful way, and it seems he does this to just to show off that he knows them.

Mr. Rao seems to have failed to grasp that his readers may be laymen interested in learning about his ideas, using them, and perhaps improving their lives as a result. Instead, it appears as though Mr. Rao is rather speaking to an audience who are critiquing his intellectual ability or his grasp of the material. He seems to have been constricted by the need to 'stylize' his writing--to make it look more like the work of someone such as Dr. Eric Berne.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsLife lessons in timing, tactics and strategy.
By DA on August 29, 2011
Format: Paperback
"Tempo" is a dense, yet highly approachable treatment of various topics around decision-making. However, instead of a dull, boring and academic book one might expect from a PhD, this is thought-provoking and (at many points) entertaining. Rao's approach of the subject is rather unorthodox by simply making his theory immediately applicable with "real-life" examples.

As Rao mentions in the book, much of the material is a synthesis of various authors and fields. The scope of "Tempo" is wide in the variety of fields that he draws upon, yet narrow enough in the distillation of core concepts explained in clear language. Tongue-in-cheek, I would liken "Tempo" as a mix of 1/3-Taleb, 1/3-Gladwell and 1/3-self-help. Unlike many existing books on the idea of cognitive biases and how our brains can fool or lead us astry, Tempo takes a more meta view that paradoxically allows one to literally view their life within the context of an ultimately richer narrative.

For me, many of the concepts Rao explains resonated with my previously subconscious understanding of the world at large, bringing into sharp focus certain aspects of life during moments of solitude and self-reflection that are now more easily explained.

I personally felt that the book was a bit on the short side, but only because I happen to have found the theory so immensely useful to me in my daily life. Rao's less formal writing style allows one to read "Tempo" in one sitting. However, upon further percolation, you would be well served to read through it again to practice the exercises used in the book. Thankfully, such exercises are perfect to explore in moments of idleness or boredom, which I've found to be the best moments for self-reflection and improvement.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

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5.0 out of 5 starsFresh look into Psychology and Meditation

The Psychology of decision making is a field that I was very unfamiliar with when I bought this book. Read more

Published on March 9, 2013 by Brian Campbell
4.0 out of 5 starsFor Reflective People Interested in a Sophisticated Approach to How We...

Although I've not met Venkatesh Rao, I was introduced to him via email last summer after reading the book. Read more

Published on December 25, 2011 by Michael Strong
5.0 out of 5 starsConnecting With The Vibe of Life

On the surface, Tempo is a book about making decisions using stories. More deeply, Tempo is a call to revisit how you relate to the world: whether you are cooking a meal, driving a... Read more

Published on August 3, 2011 by John Ryan
5.0 out of 5 starsTEMPO and Decision Making Under Pressure

I describe this book "Tempo: Timing, Tactics and Strategy in Narrative Decision Making" as insightful and though provoking. Read more

Published on June 19, 2011 by Fred

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