If you think you may use a professional financial advice, you may buy  “Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan” book at Amazon.com or any other book store.

 
At the same time, you may download it for free from here: Oprah.com.
Read the whole article and the instructions on downloading, too.

 
The book is copyrighted, so you can download it, but can’t copy, share of forward it.

 
The book is available for free download only until January 15, 2009.

 
If you like this article, forward it to your friends.
If you are reading this article from RSS Reader, you may have to click through to the site to see the images.

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Annie Leibovitz’s new book “Annie Leibovitz at Work” is about her work: how she came to it, how, when and what she learned; her thoughts, her memories. A lot of insights and history.

 

 
It’s for “Someone who is interested in photography but isn’t sure how they want to use it” and for anyone, who loves the photography and the images delivered by the author.

 

This is one of those books, which will make a great gift for any occasion.

 

You may read some excerpts at Amazon.com, by clicking on the image and getting to the book’s page. The rave reviews may convince you to buy this book: one for yourself, one for a friend.

 

Also, here:  www.artknowledgenews.com

 

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The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Collector’s Edition (Offered Exclusively by Amazon) (Hardcover) for $100.00. See it here: Collectors Edition.

Here is what the introduction passage from Amazon says:
“Designed to evoke the spirit of the handcrafted original, the luxuriously packaged Collector’s Edition of The Tales of Beedle the Bard features a reproduction of J.K. Rowling’s handwritten introduction, metalwork and clasp, and replica gemstones–and is exclusively available from Amazon. The Collector’s Edition also includes 10 new illustrations by J.K. Rowling and a velvet bag embroidered with Rowling’s signature. (Available in limited quantities.)”

 
“The Tales of Beedle the Bard” also comes in a  Standard Edition for $7.14.

 
Also, Amazon informs, that: “Net proceeds from the Collector’s Edition and the Standard Edition support the Children’s High Level Group, a charity registered in England and Wales under registered charity number 1112575. Buying Beedle as a gift? All current and future orders of The Tales of Beedle the Bard (both the Standard and Collector’s Editions) will be shipped in standard Amazon.com packaging that does not disclose the contents of the box. (A note on the Collector’s Edition: Because quantities are limited and sales are intended to support the Children’s High Level Group charity, Amazon will be the exclusive seller of The Tales of Beedle the Bard: Collectors Edition until it sells all of the copies of the Collector’s Edition that it has on hand.)”

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I also reported, that ”The money will go to the Children’s Voice, a charity co-founded by Rowling and Emma Nicholson, a member of the U.K. House of Lords.”

 
And here is the latest development: J.K. Rowlings has decided on publishing the tales, it will be available on December 4, 2008 and all net proceeds will go to the Children’s High Level Group http://www.chlg.org/.

 
Where can you get it:
The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Collector’s Edition (Offered Exclusively by Amazon), which features the “gemstones”, clasp and metalwork and a replica of J.K. Rowling’s handwritten introduction.

 
The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Standard Edition is also available at Amazon.

 
J.K. Rowling “has described “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” as a distillation of the themes found in the Harry Potter books, calling it her goodbye to a world she lived in for 17 years.”
She also “said the new edition would include her illustrations and introduction, the stories themselves and commentaries ostensibly by Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of the fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, “which appear by generous permission of the Hogwarts Headmasters’ Archive.”

 
You may also pre-order the book from Borders. The store advertises it with a 40% off list price here: Borders.

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How do we deal with all these issues? How many times do we accept the unsatisfactory answer without putting up a fight? Quiet often we don’t know our rights, and the reps or salespeople are not in a hurry to provide us with a solution to a problem.

 
“Right now it’s just the best cheaters who are winning in business,” says consumer writer Bob Sullivan.
His book “Gotcha Capitalism: How Hidden Fees Rip You Off Every Day — and What You Can Do About It” … goes on sale Dec. 26. It bares a dirty laundry list of unfair contract provisions, punitive fees, unresponsive customer service reps and inadequate regulation.”

 
“Sullivan did a survey, and found that credit card companies are most likely to reverse charges after customers complain; the airlines were second. At the bottom of the list were cell phone companies and pay-TV firms, both of which Sullivan charges have “recipes for futility” — many petty fees and an unwillingness to reverse them in the face of complaints.”

 
Please, read this very informative article published by Reuters.com , where you can find a few preliminary advices.

Once you read an article you may want to buy the book  How Hidden Fees Rip You Off Every Day at Amazon.

 
I think it’s always good to know your options in advance. Having a book, which could be the best present to yourself and a friend, might help on the long run.

 
We buy things and services not only during the holiday season, which brings in another point: save the paperwork until the matter is paid of and closed. If the purchases have warranties, keep the receipt and the manual in a place, where you can find it 8 months later.

 
As for the airlines, read the fine print on the tickets, bring the copy of the confirmation, your frequent traveler info, and any preceding mailings with you to the airport. Always have 1-800-NUMBER of the airline in question. If your flight is delayed and the line to the agent is humongous, call the airline from your cell phone: you may be able to resolve your problem faster.

 
While we are on the subject of knowing your rights, I would like to recommend one more book, which I already have, written by ABC’s Emmy award-winning consumer reporter Michael Finney.

 
The book is “Consumer Confidential: Money Saving Secrets They don’t Want you to Know and is available at www.Amazon.com .

 
Great book, priceless content. “Covering everything from buying cars, houses, and insurance, to travel, investing, credit cards and more”.
Keep in mind, that the book was published 3 years ago and some things may have changed. (Hopefully, to the better).

 
Shop at Amazon.com

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The news of today, is that the book was “bought by Amazon.com Inc., the world’s largest online bookstore, for 1.95 million pounds ($3.98 million) at a London charity auction yesterday, Amazon said.”
 
 
 ”The money will go to the Children’s Voice, a charity co-founded by Rowling and Emma Nicholson, a member of the U.K. House of Lords.”

   
“Amazon has displayed photos of the book on its Web Site.”
Since it’s been said, that the book will never be published, I wonder if it’s going to be available for viewing on line with no possibility of downloading?..Or exclusevely for viewing on Amazon’s Boook Reader “Kindle”? Will it be considered publishing?..
Then again, if Amazon bought it, they may even charge for viewing and donate money to charities. They bought the book exactly for this reason.
The plot thickens. Let’s wait for the latest development.
(The source:  www.bloomberg.com)

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“The Tales of Biddle and Bard” is published and you may buy it at Amazon.com. Please read my post (click on the link) The Tales of Beedle the Bard is Here: Collector’s and Standard Edition for more information.

What a world we live in! Nothing is predictable. The experts in some areas can’t assume and estimate, the buyers are on their own, the spectators in awe…Remember a news a few weeks ago about 7 books written by J.K.Rowling, where 6 were being given away as gifts and one was to be auctioned? 
Read about it here: The Tales to be Auctioned . 

 
The estimated price for the collection of fairy tales “The Tales of Biddle and Bard” handwritten and illustrated by J.K Rowling and mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was set to about $100,000. It was sold for almost 40 times more than the estimate, for nearly $4 million at the charity auction in London, on Thursday. ”The price for the leather-bound fairy tale, illustrated by Rowling with ink drawings, was a record for the author, for a children’s book and for any modern literary manuscript, Sotheby’s said. Manuscripts by living authors are rare in the auction room.” It’s been said, that the book will never be published.

 
The source: www.bloomberg.com

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“Living authors’ unpublished manuscripts are rarely sold at auction, so they’re hard to value. A computer printout of a novel by U.K. mystery writer Ruth Rendell sold for about 2,500 pounds in July, Sotheby’s said. Rowling’s work is illustrated with ink drawings.”

 
Interested? Read the article here:
www.bloomberg.com

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Here is the announcement: Amazon is inroducing the new E-book service: “Kindle”
The “Newsweek” published an interview with Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos.
Below are the exerpts from the interview:
“This week Bezos is releasing the Amazon Kindle, an electronic device that he hopes will leapfrog over previous attempts at e-readers and become the turning point in a transformation toward Book 2.0. That’s shorthand for a revolution (already in progress) that will change the way readers read, writers write and publishers publish… wireless connectivity, via a system called Whispernet. (It’s based on the EVDO broadband service offered by cell-phone carriers, allowing it to work anywhere, not just Wi-Fi hotspots.)…Therefore the Kindle (named to evoke the crackling ignition of knowledge) has the dimensions of a paperback, with a tapering of its width that emulates the bulge toward a book’s binding. It weighs but 10.3 ounces,…mimes the clarity of a printed book, the Kindle’s six-inch screen posts readable pages. The battery has to last for a while,…Amazon prices Kindle editions of New York Times best sellers and new releases in hardback at $9.99…The first chapter of almost any book is available as a free sample…The Kindle is not just for books. Via the Amazon store, you can subscribe to newspapers (the Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Le Monde) and magazines (The Atlantic). When issues go to press, the virtual publications are automatically beamed into your Kindle… In addition, the Kindle can venture out on the Web itself—to look up things in Wikipedia, search via Google or follow links from blogs and other Web pages… The Kindle, shipping as you read this, costs $399″.
You may read an article in its entirety here:
www.newsweek.com

 
(Via www.News.com CNET News)

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I don’t know how many of you closely following J.K. Rowling’s writing, but by now you probably know about her new creation: seven handwritten fairy tales. Six of them are intended as gifts to special to her people, and the seventh is going to be auctioned. I’ve read the news and thought it’s her business what she does with her work, because one of these days it will be published, anyway. I guess , I am too naive or don’t care enough about the issue, because I was really surprised by the reaction of people, who read this blog and were moved enough to leave comments. 259 comments, in fact. And more probably are coming! If you are interested, check it out here:

www.luxist.com

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