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Intention of the thread is NOT to initiate discussions on whether seven books would be sufficient or why only seven etc. It is to get an idea about what books the aspirants consider most important to cover static portion of the syllabus and to get a god grip on basics to improve upon for the dynamic portion.
As far as I know about the CSE. the premise to bound the static/dynamic portion to the number of the books is not appreciable. Friend, look at the CSE GS Mains-2012 question paper(which is the best source for the sample questions to be expected in the exam)
Though you can read the above books and might get confident about clearing this exam, but you never know the questions that could be asked by UPSC.
Take for an instance the subject Polity for the CSE exam. the general booklist which is suggested for this topic of the syllabus 1) NCERT 2) Indian Polity By Laxmikanth 3) polity P M Bakshi 4) indian Parliament DD Basu
There must be some difference among the above books! These books are known for putting light on the Indian Polity through different perspective. (and you never know the perspective apt for an answer of a question, expected by Examiner ) The people who confidently clear this exam : Do read all these books. (as is evident from their answers)
So according to me : If you have to clear this exam with full confidence then you would have to refer to spectrum of sources!,This is only the half the distance covered ! Like you cannot get good marks in maths just by memorizing the formula, You can succeed in CSE just by referring to the myriad of sources, you will have to practice answer writing too.
PS: I suspect you are a working professional ! (Brave)
Thank you @abhithepandey for your inputs. I agree that it is not a wise idea to bound the CSE preparation to a set of standard books. That is not how it should be and that was not what I meant through my post. However, given the nature of exam, I think that it is very important to have a strong base upon which you can build your knowledge from plethora of sources like news papers, magazines and documentaries, blogs, debates and discussions etc.
You are right that 2012 papers would give us a decent idea about the way UPSC is drifting to. But, I am not sure if reading more number of standard books would do any good (like reading all the three - Laxmikanth, Bakshi and Basu). My approach would be to read a limited number of books thoroughly, and build upon those basics by referring to various other sources that I mentioned above. This is why it is important to pick a right set of books. Again, there is no absolute right or wrong books here, but I think a little research to come up with a set of more relevant books would definitely pay off.
I understand that this way of thinking might not mean much if one is blessed with ample amount of time. You guessed right, I am a working professional and the effort is to put every minute to its best use. Thanks again for your inputs.
Intention of the thread is NOT to initiate discussions on whether seven books would be sufficient or why only seven etc. It is to get an idea about what books the aspirants consider most important to cover static portion of the syllabus and to get a god grip on basics to improve upon for the dynamic portion.
4) Facets of Indian Culture - Spectrum Publications
5) Physical Geography - Goh Cheng Leong
6) World History - Norman Lowe
7) India After Gandhi - Ramachandra Guha
Thanks
5 out of your 7 books are only for GS-I. An IR book should be present in your top 7.
Facets of Culture is going to give very low returns in exchange of the large efforts you will put into it. Culture will definitely not come for more than 40 marks because of the other heavyweight topics present in GS-I.
Norman Lowe does not cover pre-WWI history which is the most important part and is too time-consuming; it also does not have anything on political ideologies, which is explicitly mentioned in the syllabus. Its better to just rely on wikipedia/internet sources.
You should also substitute India After Gandhi with India Since Independence, which is more UPSC-relevant.
@ram You shall be able to understand, what I am saying after you get into the position to write the answers(after completing the static portion of the syllabus) and compare your answers with the other aspirants ! all the best !
@Stardust Thanks for your inputs on Lowe and Guha. As I am still contemplating whether to read those two, your views would be helpful. I found Facets of Culture very informative. Other than being useful for culture part of the portion, I think this book would help bring depth to ones understanding of Indian society which would be definitely helpful over all. I agree, parts of the book may be too informative in exam perspective. May I ask your list of seven preferred books?. Thanks
@Stardust Thanks for your inputs on Lowe and Guha. As I am still contemplating whether to read those two, your views would be helpful. I found Facets of Culture very informative. Other than being useful for culture part of the portion, I think this book would help bring depth to ones understanding of Indian society which would be definitely helpful over all. I agree, parts of the book may be too informative in exam perspective. May I ask your list of seven preferred books?. Thanks
@Stardust the book on ethics as mentioned by you (in the point number 7 in the above comment) is too pricey ! how did you manage to get it, Is its pdf available online ?
@Stardust the book on ethics as mentioned by you (in the point number 7 in the above comment) is too pricey ! how did you manage to get it, Is its pdf available online ?
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Comments
Though you can read the above books and might get confident about clearing this exam, but you never know the questions that could be asked by UPSC.
Take for an instance the subject Polity for the CSE exam.
the general booklist which is suggested for this topic of the syllabus
1) NCERT
2) Indian Polity By Laxmikanth
3) polity P M Bakshi
4) indian Parliament DD Basu
There must be some difference among the above books! These books are known for putting light on the Indian Polity through different perspective. (and you never know the perspective apt for an answer of a question, expected by Examiner )
The people who confidently clear this exam : Do read all these books. (as is evident from their answers)
So according to me : If you have to clear this exam with full confidence then you would have to refer to spectrum of sources!,This is only the half the distance covered ! Like you cannot get good marks in maths just by memorizing the formula, You can succeed in CSE just by referring to the myriad of sources, you will have to practice answer writing too.
PS: I suspect you are a working professional ! (Brave)
You are right that 2012 papers would give us a decent idea about the way UPSC is drifting to. But, I am not sure if reading more number of standard books would do any good (like reading all the three - Laxmikanth, Bakshi and Basu). My approach would be to read a limited number of books thoroughly, and build upon those basics by referring to various other sources that I mentioned above. This is why it is important to pick a right set of books. Again, there is no absolute right or wrong books here, but I think a little research to come up with a set of more relevant books would definitely pay off.
I understand that this way of thinking might not mean much if one is blessed with ample amount of time. You guessed right, I am a working professional and the effort is to put every minute to its best use. Thanks again for your inputs.
Facets of Culture is going to give very low returns in exchange of the large efforts you will put into it. Culture will definitely not come for more than 40 marks because of the other heavyweight topics present in GS-I.
Norman Lowe does not cover pre-WWI history which is the most important part and is too time-consuming; it also does not have anything on political ideologies, which is explicitly mentioned in the syllabus. Its better to just rely on wikipedia/internet sources.
You should also substitute India After Gandhi with India Since Independence, which is more UPSC-relevant.
You shall be able to understand, what I am saying after you get into the position to write the answers(after completing the static portion of the syllabus) and compare your answers with the other aspirants !
all the best !
1) Unique Quintessence of General Studies
2) Ramesh Singh
3) Economic Survey +XIIth Plan Approach
4) Geography of India - Majid Hussain
5) New Look At Modern Indian History - Grover/Mehta
6) World History - McDougal Littell
7) Ethics and Integrity in Public Administration - Concepts and Cases
the book on ethics as mentioned by you (in the point number 7 in the above comment) is too pricey ! how did you manage to get it, Is its pdf available online ?