Recommended Books For UPSC - Sleepy Classes IAS Skip to main content

Recommended Books For UPSC

The finest IAS books will differ depending on the candidate’s past experience and knowledge of the subject. However, the UPSC booklist recommended by professionals is provided by subject in this article.

Choosing the best IAS test books online for each level of the UPSC exam is critical. IAS toppers advise applicants to begin their UPSC studies with NCERT books and then on to standard reference books.

HISTORY

Ancient & Medieval History

New NCERTsView
NIOS PDFs on Ancient & Medieval HistoryView
Class 11 Tamil Nadu History BookView

Modern History: 1757 to 1857

Old NCERT for History | Bipin ChandraView
Class 12 Tamil Nadu History BookView

Modern History: 1857 onwards

A brief history of Modern India | Rajiv Ahir (Spectrum)View
India's Struggle for Independence | Bipin ChandraView

Culture

Hand-written notes by Nitin SinghaniaView
Class 11 Fine Arts NCERTView
Selected PDF compilation of CCRT documents on CultureView

Post-Independence Consolidation

NCERTView
India After Independence | Bipin ChandraView

World History

Old NCERT | Arjun DevView
Mastering Modern World History | Norman LoweView

SOCIAL ISSUES

Social Problems in India | Ram AhujaView

Students should also refer to PIB and PRS websites, reports as per current affairs, newspapers like Hindu and Indian Express, and Yojana magazines related to social issues.

GEOGRAPHY

Geography of India & the World

Class 6 to 12 NCERTsView
Certificate Physical and Human Geography | Goh Cheng LeongView
Geography of India | Majid HussainView
World Geography | Majid HussainView
India YearbookView

Maps

Oxford Student Atlas for IndiaView
Geography through Maps | K SiddharthaView

Students should also refer to Geography and You, Down to Earth, and the Geography related articles in Yojana and Kurukshetra magazines.

POLITY

Indian Polity | LaxmikanthView
Our constitution, Our parliament | Subhash KashyapView
Introduction to the Constitution of India | D. D. BasuView
Oxford companion to Politics in IndiaView

Apart from using newspapers and PRS as additional resources, students should also go through Second ARC reports and reports from NITI Aayog like the Three Year Action Agenda.

GOVERNANCE

Local Governance in India | Bidyut Chakrabarty and Rajendra PandeyView
Governance in India | LaxmikanthView

Apart from the books, students should refer to these websites- PRS, Live Law, MHRD, Vikaspedia and PIB, ADR reports and Economic & Political Weekly.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Pax Indica| Shashi TharoorView
Challenge and Strategy: Rethinking India's Foreign Policy | Rajiv SikriView

The websites that students can refer to for this subject are: Distinguished lecture series on the MEA website, foreignpolicy.comVivekananda India Foundation. Students should also refer to Frontline, World Focus and UN reports.

ECONOMY

Indian Economy | Ramesh SinghView
Indian Economy | Dutt & SundharamView

Apart from the books, helpful resources are Arthapedia, Three year action agenda by NITI Aayog, Economy and Political Weekly and Economic Survey of India.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Class 6 to 10 NCERTsView
Science & Technology | TMHView

Two other key resources are Vigyan Parisar and Science Reporter.

ENVIRONMENT

Class 12 Biology NCERTView
Environment | ShankarView

Useful websites for preparing for this section are- Ministry of Environment website, websites of international organisations like World Bank, FAO, etc. Down to earth & Geography and you magazines should also be referred.

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Class 8 NCERTView

Additionally, students should go through NDMA guidelines , third report of second ARC (crisis management) and Yojana’s Jan 2017 edition on disaster management

INTERNAL SECURITY

Challenges to Internal Security of India | TMHView

IDSA publications, Security scan on Rajya sabha TV and reports 7 and 8 report of second ARC reports are also recommended.

ETHICS

IAS Mains General Studies Paper - 4: Ethics Integrity & Aptitude | ArihantView
Lexicon for Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude for IAS General StudiesView

The plato.stanford.edu website is a very useful resource on Ethics.