What are the best books for UPSC?



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ANSWER WIKI

Based on the below answer the consolidated list of books are
##General Studies Paper I##
  1. General Studies Manual - Paper 1 by Manohar Pandey
  2. General Studies Paper I for Civil Services Preliminary Examination by Majid Husain, D R Khullar, N K Bajaj, N D Arora, Ashok Kumar Singh
  3. General Studies - Paper I For Civil Services Preliminary Examination by Edgar Thorpe, Showick Thorpe
  4. General Studies Paper I by MHE
##Indian History##
  1. History of Modern India by Bipan Chandra
  2. India's Struggle for Independence by Bipan Chandra
  3. India's Ancient Past by R.S.Sharma
  4. A Brief History Of Modern India by Rajiv Ahir
  5. A History of Medieval India by Chandra Satish
  6. Concise History of Modern India for Civil Services Examination by Sujata Menon
  7. A New Look at Modern Indian History: Form 1707 To The Modern Times by B.L. Grover, Alka Mehta
##Art & Culture##
  1. The Wonder That Was India by A.L. Bhasham
  2. Indian Art and Culture by Nitin Singhania
##Indian Geography##
  1. Oxford School Atlas – Oxford. (Geography)
  2. Geography of India by Majid Husain ,TMH Publishing
  3. Certificate Physical and Human Geography by Goh Cheng Leong
  4. Indian and World Geography: Objective Questions with Explanatory Notes for Civil Services Preliminary Examination by D.R. Khullar
  5. Oxford School Atlas by Oxford
##Indian Polity##
  1. Indian Polity by M. Laxmikanth
  2. Introduction to the Constitution of India by D.D.Basu
  3. Magbook Indian Polity & Governance by Arihant Publication
  4. Indian Polity, Governance and National Movement for Civil Services Preliminary Examination - Paper 1 by N D Arora, Access Publishing
##Indian Economy##
  1. Indian Economy Book by Ramesh Singh
  2. The Indian Economy Book by Sanjiv Verma
  3. Indian Economy: Performance and Policies: by Uma Kapila
##Environment##
  1. Environment for Civil Services Prelims and Mains and Other Competitive Examinations Paperback by D R Khullar, J A C S Rao
  2. Environmental Studies: From Crisis to Cure Book by R. Rajagopalan
##General Studies Paper II##
  1. General Studies Paper II by MHE
  2. General Studies Paper 2 for Civil Services Preliminary Examination by V. Sasikumar, N.D. Arora, Prem Sahajpal
  3. CSAT - Solved Papers for Civil Services Preliminary Examination (General Studies Paper II) by Access
  4. General Studies Paper II For Civil Services Preliminary Examination by Edgar Thorpe, Showick Thorpe
  5. Cracking the CSAT Paper-2 by Arihant Experts
##Books for Mains:##
  1. IAS Mains General Studies Paper 1 INDIAN HERITAGE & CULTURE HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY OF THE WORLD & SOCIETY by Arihant Experts (Reference Manual GS-1)
  2. History of Modern World by Jain, Mathur (History GS-1)
  3. Social Problems In India by Ram Ahuja (Indian Society GS-1)
  4. India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha (World History GS-1)
  5. IAS Mains General Studies Paper 2 GOVERNANCE CONSTITUTION, POLITY SOCIAL JUSTICE & INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (Reference Manual GS-2)
  6. Governance for Growth in India (Governance GS-2)
  7. Pax Indica: India and the World of the 21st Century by Shashi Tharoor (Foreign Policy GS-2)
  8. India and the World: Through the Eyes of Indian Diplomats by Surendra Kumar (Foreign Policy GS-2)
  9. IAS Mains General Studies Paper 3 TECHNOLOGY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BIODIVERSITY ENVIRONMENT, SECURITY & DISASTER MANAGEMENT (Reference Manual GS-3)
  10. India’s National Security: A Reader (Critical Issues in Indian Politics) (National Security GS-3)
  11. Internal Security & Disaster Management GS Paper 3 (Internal Security GS-3)
  12. IAS Mains General Studies Paper 4 ETHICS INTEGRITY & APTITUDE (Reference Manual GS-4)
  13. Contemporary Essays for Civil Services Examination (Essay)
  14. 151 Essays (Essay)
##Books for Interview:##
  1. Interviews The Last Basic Tips On facing Civil Services Personality Test (Interview Basics)
  2. What…? When…? How…? Answers to All Questions About Civil Services (Interview) (Interview Questions)
100+ ANSWERS






Himanshu Kaushik
Himanshu Kaushik, IAS, AIR 77 UPSC 2017, Engineer, Animal Lover, Delhiite

Answered Jul 5, 2019



I am mentioning the list of books which I followed during my UPSC Preparation. I secured AIR 77 in UPSC CSE 2017. It was my first attempt hence did not get the chance to cover multiple sources. My booklist will be to the point and simple. The best strategy is to follow limited sources and revise them again and again. I completed and revised the following sources in around 1 year.
You are free to choose your own sources as no strategy is perfect. You are free to opt for any resource.
MAIN POINTS TO REMEMBER
· NCERTs are mandatory. Start from VIII standard and go up to XII. Don’t read every NCERT. I have mentioned the useful ones.
· No need to read bulky books. Our motive is to clear the exam and not to research on subjects. It is General Studies hence require a general level of understanding. Only in optional subject, you need to have a specific knowledge of Post Graduation Level.
· Newspaper should be read on daily basis. For English Medium, Either the Hindu or The Indian Express can be referred. GS Preparation is incomplete without newspaper.
· Coaching material can be replaced with source of your choice. I joined Vajiram and hence referred their yellow books. You are free to follow reading material of other institutes or standard books.
· Online and Offline combination. A good combination of online and offline sources helps. Opt for online videos if you think the topic is too heavy for you and you need extra help.
BOOKLIST
SOURCES FOR PRELIMS
  • ANCIENT HISTORY
Ncert Ancient India (Class VI), Ncert Rs Sharma (Class XI), Jain Sir Notes (Vajiram)
  • ART AND CULTURE
CCRT Book, Vajiram Yellow Book, Unacademy Videos, Vision Pt 365 on Culture for Current Events
  • MEDIEVAL HISTORY
Vajiram Yellow Book / Medieval History Ncert
  • MODERN HISTORY
Ncert Bipin Chandra (Class XII), Pratik Nayak Sir Videos (Mrunal Youtube), Parmar Sir Notes (Vajiram)
  • POLITY
XI and XII Ncerts (4 Books), Indian Polity by Lakshmikanth, Objective Lakshmikanth for Practice, Vajiram Class Notes, Constitution Handbook by PM Bakshi
  • POLICIES AND ACTS
PRS, Vision Material on Government Schemes
  • ECONOMICS
Ncert XI, Ncert XII (Macro Economics), Vajiram Class Notes, Vajiram Yellow Book, Budget Speech, Budget Material (Vajiram/GSscore), Economic Survey (Vajiram/GSscore)
  • GEOGRAPHY
Ncert VIII (Resources and Dev), Ncert X (Contemporary India Ii), Ncert XI and XII (4 Books), GC Leong, Vajiram Class Notes, Atlas (Orient Black Swan)
  • ENVIRONMENT
Ncert VII Class (Our Environment) , Vision Material on Environment , NCERT XI (Natural Hazards)
  • SCIENCE AND TECH
Vajiram Notes, Current Events Through Various Sources
  • INDIA YEAR BOOK
Any Coaching Material
ADDITIONAL SOURCES FOR MAINS
  • HINDI (Language Paper)
Samanya Hindi (Unique Publication) , 5 Previous years papers
  • ENGLISH (Language Paper)
Solved 2 previous years papers
  • ESSAY PAPER
Any coaching material, Quotes from newspapers and internet, Vajiram’s Yojana Summary for relevant topics like women, environment etc
  • ETHICS (GS PAPER 4)
110+ Ethics Book (Golden Peacock Publication), Vajiram Yellow Book on Case Studies, GSScore material on terminologies , Ethics portion from 2nd ARC
  • WORLD HISTORY
Story of civilization NCERT (Vol 1 and Vol 2) , Pratik Nayak Sir Videos (Mrunal channel on YouTube) , Vajiram Class Notes (Ojha Sir)
  • SOCIETY
Vajiram Class Notes , Government Schemes from Vision Material and Current Events
  • GOVERNANCE
Vajiram Class Notes, Vajiram Yellow Book, 2nd ARC Summary, PRS, Vision Material on Schemes
  • INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Vajiram Class Notes (Pavneet Sir), Current Events from GKToday and other online sources
  • ANSWER WRITING PRACTICE
INSIGHTS SECURE
SOURCES FOR CURRENT AFFAIRS
DAILY NEWSPAPER (HINDU / INDIAN EXPRESS)
VISION / VAJIRAM CURRENT AFFAIRS MONTHLY MODULE
INSIGHTS DAILY QUIZ, BIG PICTURE ON RSTV
VISION PT365 (EVERY SUBJECT) BEFORE PRELIMS and MAINS365 before Mains
All the Best !!

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Akash Bansal
Akash Bansal, IAS 2019 Batch; Former IRS(IT) officer; IIT Kanpur grad

Answered Nov 13, 2018



This is the most important question one always keep thinking about during upsc preparation. The reason being that too much or less of material will equally create challenges in your preparation. Moreover, choosing the right sources and revision of these resources is the most crucial part of your preparation. Otherwise, everyone is reading from some source or the other.
Basic rule to decide: You have to reach the common ground of what other toppers know and read. Hence, keep it simple and easy. Plus you should finish your GS preparation to optimum so that more time can be given to your optional.
Books: one book for one topic is sufficient
  1. Modern history: Spectrum
  2. Ancient and medieval: Tamil Nadu class 11th history book.
  3. Culture: Nitin singhania notes or book.
  4. Geography: Mrunal video lectures
  5. Economics: Mrunal video lectures
  6. Environment: Shankar IAS book
  7. Polity: Laxmikant book
  8. Current affairs: vision or insight's daily or compilation
Benefits of these sources:
  1. You can skip formal coaching if you have read and understood these materials. Because these materials cover long and short of your syllabus.
  2. You will be able to retain more and will help immensely in your mains examination.
  3. This is your foundation. You can build upon it and few other sources in case you need it. (Which I'm sure you will not feel the need)
  4. You will find yourself at the same level as Toppers and have no anxiety of not reading other book's.
  5. This will also be the most Time efficient way to cover syllabus rather than jumping from one book to other.
Hope it helps you guys!!

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Preeti Singh
Preeti Singh, Aspiring for IAS . Enough Said.

Answered May 23, 2016



To crack the indian administrative exam two things are certain .
  1. You need a very strong sense of emotion atttached to making it to the top 100 . Why i am saying this is because whenever an emotion is subconciously added to a thought it is bound to became a reality .
  2. You need a stratergy which is better than 999900 people (considering previous years applications nearly 10 lakh might appear in 2017)
Now many people talk about stratergy there is only one thing for certain the deeper your research is the more chances are that you will clear the exam .
If you can somehow read the pattern on the type of questions asked in previous years on economy , polity , history , science and geography and start preparing accordingly Cover the most important topics subject wise . Leave no stone unturned .
One thing is certain the UPSC asks questions from events of last <1.5 years in MAINS and current events for PRELIMS.
So every year you will have to study for one year. Only one thing keeps people from acheiving success in one year of preparation is that their base is not strong enough as they have not studied the prescribed books and revised and wastes more than required time on newspapers etc.
They are not clear about what is to done and what is to be left from hindu , indian express , etc . There are very few books in the market that can help aspirants with mains preparation .
One thing is for sure if you want to crack follow the above mantra .
This is the pattern on which upsc will test you .
You will be able to crack the exam only if your basics are 100 percent clear because only then you will be able to decode the current affairs of national and international important as per upsc requirement
There is a pattern to everything . Only some people who are aware make it to the merit list . Now i want you to look at this closely if you can read the pattern you will crack it
Following a Booklist is the most important aspect to the upsc exam . Please dont go for bogus coaching notes they are a waste of time and money and moreover the presentation is horrible .
Economy -March of the indian economy - I.C Dingra heed publications
History - Spectrum publications
Art and culture- Spectrum / NIOS
Polity - DD basu lexis nexis
Geography - leong - oxford very useful for physical geography
General science - 6–10 Ncerts
Environment and ecology - shankar
Hindu and yojana for current affairs . Read daily hindu .
Read these books 3–4 times understand the concepts , apply them while reading the newspapers absorb them and take tests . You will shine .
All the very Best !

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Shivani Gupta
Shivani Gupta, AIR 121 in First Attempt UPSC 2017, Union Public Service Commission of India (2017)

Answered May 31, 2018 · Author has 86 answers and 1.1m answer views


Originally Answered: What book should we prefer for cracking UPSC?


I have shared my booklist on my blog.
You can refer the same there.
http://shivanigupta286.wordpress.com

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Nidhi
Nidhi, Appeared twice in IAS Interview

Answered Jan 7, 2019 · Author has 113 answers and 277.8k answer views



As soon as one decides to become as IAS Officer, there are certain things one should be very clear about:
  1. Syllabus of the Exam
  2. Books to Refer
  3. A proper strategy to prepare
Below I am providing a subject-wise book list that has helped me during my Preparation days in getting a strong hold over the various subjects.
  • History
Basic Books:
  1. NIOS course books for classes XI and XII on - Ancient India, Medieval India, Modern India, National Movement & Contemporary World and Culture of India. (All these are available in PDF format on internet)
Advance Level Books:
  1. India’s Ancient Past by R.S. Sharma published by Oxford University Press
  2. A History of Ancient & Early Medieval India by Upinder Singh
  3. History of Medieval India (800–1700 AD) by Satish Chandra published by Orient Longman
  4. History of Modern India by Bipin Chandra (2009 Edition)
  5. India’s Struggle for Independence by Bipin Chandra & Others
  6. India After Independence (1947 - 2000) by Bipin Chandra & Others
  7. From Plassey To Partition And After by Sekhar Bandopadhyaya
World History:
  1. The Story of Civilization, Part 2 by Arjun Dev, NCERT
  2. Contemporary World History for class XII (Old NCERT Book)
  3. Mastering Modern World History by Norman Lowe
  • Geography
  1. Certificate Physical & Human Geography (Oxford) by Goh Cheng Leong
  2. NCERTs (New Editions)
  • XI Standard: (1) India - Physical Environment (2) Fundamentals of Physical Geography
  • XII Standard: (1) India - People & Economy (2) Fundamentals of Human Geography
3. School Atlas - Orient Black Swan
4. Indian Geography by D. R. Khullar
  • Social Issues
  1. XI Standard NCERT on Indian Society (Chapters on Unity & Diversity and Population Issues)
  2. XII Standard NCERT (Chapters on Communalism, Secularism and Urban Issues such as Poverty, Housing, etc.)
  3. The Hindu or Indian Express Newspaper
  • Indian Polity
  1. Constitution of India at Work (Class XI) NCERT Publication
  2. Indian Polity by Laxmikant
  3. The Hindu or Indian Express Newspaper
  4. Yojana Magazine
  • Governance Issues
  1. From Government to Governance by Kuldeep Mathur
  2. Ethics in Governance, ARC Report
  3. Citizen Centric Administration (Chapters 2, 5, 6, 7 & 8 only and box items in the report)
  • Developmental Issues
  1. Human Development Report & World Development Report
  2. Panchayati Raj in India by Kuldeep Mathur
  3. The Hindu or Indian Express Newspaper
  4. Kurukshetra & Yojana Magazines
  • International Relations
  1. India’s Foreign Policy Since Independence by V.P. Dutt
  2. The Hindu or Indian Express Newspaper
  • Indian Economy
  1. Indian Economic Development XI Standard NCERT
  2. Indian Economy by Sanjiv Verma
  3. Introductory Macro Economics XII Standard NCERT (Ignore all diagrams & mathematical formulas)
  4. The Hindu or Indian Express Newspaper
  5. Economics Dictionary published by Collins & Penguin
  6. Economic Survey 2017 - 18 & 2018 - 19 (to be out in Feb 2019, only recommended chapters)
  • Ecology & Environment
  1. Certificate Physical & Human Geography by Goh Cheng Leong (Second Half of the Book)
  2. XII Standard NCERT Book on Biology (Chapters pertaining to Ecology)
  3. India Year Book (Chapters on Environment)
  4. Chapter on Climate Change from Economic Survey
  5. The Hindu or Indian Express Newspaper
  • Security Issues
  1. India’s Security in a Turbulent World by Jasjit Singh, published by National Book Trust of India
  2. The Hindu or Indian Express Newspaper
  • Science & Technology
  1. VIII, IX, X Standard NCERT books on Biology
  2. The Hindu or Indian Express Newspaper
  3. Monthly Magazine ‘Science Reporter for Science & Technology’
  • Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude
  1. Ethics in Governance, ARC Report
  2. Lexicon by Chronicle Publications
  3. The Book on Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude published by Access Publication
  • Monthly Current Affairs
For Current Affairs make a habit of reading Newspaper daily (The Hindu or Indian Express Newspaper). Also, you can refer to some websites or magazines which provide Current Affairs in consolidated form for the complete month.
I personally refered to Vajiram & Ravi Current Affairs Material. You can get it from the following link:
Current Affairs Material
All The Best For Your Preparation!

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