Best foreign automotive books according to redditors

Sure!

Very generally...

An instant after the last shot of WWII was fired the USA and USSR began positioning themselves to be the post-war power of tomorrow. Each side piled up troop upon troop, weapon upon weapon and puppet state upon puppet state. Their increasingly preposterous armaments and massive nuclear arsenals meant that Mutually Assured Destruction^tm would be unavoidable should they come to true blows so they took to fighting proxy wars everywhere, flooding crucial countries with propaganda, terrorizing unfriendly regions with psychological warfare, engaging in absurdly complex espionage schemes and jockeying for position on the race to dominate space.

[All of this is represented in the essential elements of Twilight Struggle - DEFCON, influence, Space Race]

In this sea of chaos navigated with brinksmanship neither the USA or USSR could ever throw their full weight behind one particular venture or another lest they risk making a 'cold' war 'hot' by raining nuclear fire across the globe.

"We may be likened to two scorpions in a bottle, each capable of killing the other, but only at the risk of his own life."
Oppenheimer

So they pulled marionette strings... a brush war here, a coup d'etat there and countless CIA/KGB agents to make up the middle. Both sides were moving with extreme caution and had to weigh enemy benefit against their own aims - political capital used to assassinate a President in Chile would mean assured copper finances at the cost of continental ill will, the support of a grossly loyal Shah might gain momentary regional control but domino into outright revolution and expulsion... the list goes on and on.

Given the narrow band of operational flex the two superpowers were operating under any gains would come at a cost... and over the course of 50 odd years the dance for domination was a true zero-sum game.

[One eg in TS terms - 'Warsaw Pact Formed': 3ops (that's a lot of ops!) if played by the US but the USSR can add a ton of influence in Europe or blow away whatever gains the US has made there... but it has the added US "bonus" of allowing NATO to pop when played for its event when by the USSR for ops... plans within plans within plans :)]

Anyway, that's the 30,000ft view of the thing... if you'd like a real granular level analysis I'd recommend starting with Kissinger. And if you like that there's a lot more where it came from!

And if you haven't... play Twilight Struggle!

Outside of Chess it's the best board game I've played.

These two books, How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive : A Manual of Step-By-Step Procedures for the Complete Idiot and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance imbued me with the sense of what I could do if I stopped being anxious about it. With no prior experience, I successfully rebuilt a VW engine after reading them. It's more about the attitude that you bring to the job than the skills you currently have. You learn as you go if you have patience with yourself.
Edit: spelling

https://www.amazon.com/Vw-Beetle-Comprehensive-Illustrated-History/dp/0760304300

maybe, get a copy of how to keep your vw alive for the complete idiot it's the vw owner's bible. The Samba vw fourm is another must look.

Yes. Here.

Technically, no.

Fun fact: Ralph also wrote a book about the beetle called small on safety - the in-designed dangers of the volkswagen

That's a Superbeetle! Slightly longer than the original, different suspension. Get the idiots guide it's awesome. It will save you thousands of dollars and either bring you two together or make you hate each other and cars forever.

Here is a link to the owners manual and I am also thinking of buying [this] (http://www.amazon.com/Service-Repair-Manual-Haynes-Manuals/dp/1859605737/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top) repair manual.

Really?! Buy a Haynes manual. They've even got pictures!

Buy Wal*Mart brand oil. It's a grade or two higher than the name brands.