UPSC Book List, Best Books for UPSC Prelims, Mains & Optionals

Optional Subjects

Best UPSC Books

Agriculture

• Agronomy By Yellamananda Reddy
• Soil Science – D.K Das Or Brady
• Genetics By B.D.Singh
• Entomology – Vasantha Raj & David
• Special Issue of Agriculture by The Hindu

Anthropology

Paper 1:

• Braintree material
• Physical Anthropology – P Nath
• Anthropology Simplified – Vivek Bhasme (very good source for diagrams and answer structuring)
• Anthropology – Ember and Ember

Paper 2:

• Indian Anthropology -Nadeem Hasnain
• Tribal India – Nadeem Hasnain
• Anthropology Simplified- Vivek Bhasme
• The Tribal Culture of India – LP Vidyarthi

To get the complete list of Anthropology Books for UPSC, click on the link provided here.

Public Administration

• Public Administration by Laxmikanth
• Vajiram & Ravi Public Administration Books
• New Horizons Of Public Administration by Mohit Bhattacharya
• Administrative Thinkers by D. Ravindra Prasad
• Contemporary Debates in Public Administration by Dhameja Alka
• Indian Administration by Maheswari
• Introduction to the Constitution of India by D.D. Basu

To get the complete list of Public Administration Optional Books, click on the link provided here.

Political Science and International Relations

Paper 1:

• An Introduction To Constitution- D.D. Basu
• An Introduction To Political Theory- O.P Gauba
• Fifty Major Political Thinkers- Ian Adams And R W Dyson
• A History Of Political Thought: Plato To Marx – Subrata Mukherjee And Sushila Ramaswamy
• An Oxford Companion To Politics In India – Niraja Gopal Jayal And Pratap Bhanu Mehta
• Foundations Of Indian Political Thought- V.R Mehta
• A New Look At Modern Indian History- B.L Grover And Alka Mehta
• India’s Struggle For Independence – Bipan Chandra
• Indian Government And Politics – B L Fadia

Paper 2:

• India’s Foreign Policy – V P Dutt
• International Organisations- Spectrum Books Publication
• International Relations – V N Khanna
• Challenge And Strategy: Rethinking India’s Foreign Policy- Rajiv Sikri
• Does The Elephant Dance?: Contemporary Indian Foreign Policy- David M. Malone
• Global Politics- Andrew Heywood
• MPS-004 Comparative Politics: Issues And Trends By Expert Panel Of GPH

To get the Complete List of PSIR Optional Books, click on the link here.

Philosophy

Paper 1:

1. W. T. Stace: A Critical History of Greek Philosophy (Plato and Aristotle).
2. Copleston: A History of Philosophy (Relevant Chapters from volume I, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX & XI).
3. Anthony Kenny: A New History of Western Philosophy. OUP Oxford.
4. Datta & Chatterjee: An Introduction to Indian Philosophy. Rupa Publishing.
5. C. D. Sharma: A Critical Survey of Indian Philosophy. MLBD.
6. Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy.
7. Bertrand Russell: A History Of Western Philosophy

Paper 2:

1. John Hick: Philosophy of Religion.
2. Michael B. Wilkinson: Philosophy of Religion: An Introduction.
3. O. P. Gauba: Social & Political Philosophy.
4. Political Theory, An Introduction. Edited By Rajeev Bhargava & Ashok Acharya.
5. Oxford Dictionary of Politics.

To get the complete list of Philosophy Optional Books, click on the link shared here.

Commerce and Accountancy 

Paper 1:

• Accounting Corporate Accounting – Naseem Ahmed
• Accounting Standards- D. S. Rawat
• Auditing Students’ Guide to Auditing- Aruna Jha
• Income Tax book by- V.K. Singhania or Girish Ahuja
• Cost Accounting; Theory & Problems- Maheshwari & Mittal

Paper 2:

•  Human Resource Management- C.B. Gupta
• Industrial Relations- T.N. Chabra and R.K. Suri
• Dynamics of Industrial Relations- C.B. Mamoria and Satish Mamoria
• Human Resource Management- K. Aswathappa

To get the complete list of Commerce and Accountancy Optional Books, follow the link here.

History 

• A New Look at Modern Indian History From 1707 to the Modern Times- Alka Mehta and B L Grover S
• Mastering Modern World History- Norman Lowe (Best book for World History UPSC)
• The Penguin History Of Early India: From The Origins To AD 1300- Romila Thapar
• Age of Revolution 1789-1848- Eric Hobsbawm
• History of Medieval India- Satish Chandra
• History Of Modern India- Bipan Chandra
• India’s Ancient Past- Ram Sharan Sharma
• Modern Indian History- Bipan Chandra

To get the complete list of History Books for UPSC, click on the link provided here.

Geography 

Paper 1:

• Human Geography by Majid Husain
• A Geography by Population by R.C. Chandna
• Goh Cheng Leong
• Oceanography by Sharma & Vatal
• Physical Geography – Made Simple, Rupa Publisher
• Physical Geography by Savindra Singh
• Economic and Social Geography – Made Simple by Rupa Publisher
• Environmental Geography by Savindra Singh
• Environmental Geography by Saxena

Paper 2:

• Economic and Commercial Geography of India by Sharma & Coutinho
• Economic and Commercial Geography of India by C.B. Mamoria
• Geography of India – Majid Husain
• Transport, Communication, and Trade
• Regional Development and Planning
• Agriculture Geography by Majid Husain

To get the complete List of Geography Books for UPSC, click here.

Mathematics

Paper 1:

• Schaum’s outline on Linear Algebra.
• Krishna Series on Matrices
• Krishna Series on Differential calculus
• Krishna Series on Integral calculus
• Mathematical Analysis by Malik and Arora

Paper 2:

• Abstract Algebra, Group Theory by R Kumar (Vardhaman Publications)
• Abstract Algebra, Ring Theory by R Kumar (Vardhaman Publications)
• Abstract Algebra by Joseph Gallian (optional)
• Mathematical Analysis by Malik and Arora
• Real Analysis by MD Raisinghania

To get the complete list of Maths Optional Books, click the link provided here.

Sociology

Paper 1:

• Introduction to Sociology by Anthony Giddens
• Sociological Theory by George Ritzer
• Sociology Themes and Perspectives by Haralambos & Holborn
• A Dictionary of Sociology by John Scott
• Sociological Thought by Francis Abraham and John Henry Morgan
• An Introduction to Political Theory by O P Gauba

Paper 2:

•  Social Change in Modern India by M N Srinivas
• Caste Its Twentieth Century Avatar by M N Srinivas
• Handbook of Indian Sociology by Veena Das
• Indian Society: Themes and Social Issues by Nadeem Hasnain
• Modernization of Indian Tradition by Yogendra Singh
• Rural Sociology by S.L Doshi and P.C Jain
• Social Background of Indian Nationalism by A R Desai

To Get the complete List of Sociology Books for UPSC, click here.

Economics

Paper 1:

• Modern Microeconomics – A. Koutsoyiannis
• Advanced Economic Theory: Microeconomic Analysis – H. L. Ahuja
• Macroeconomic Theories & Policies – R.T. Froyen
• Macroeconomics - H. L. Ahuja
• Monetary Economics – S. B. Gupta
• Public Finance – Musgrave & Musgrave
• RBI Website for Banking Concepts & latest Monetary Policy 

Paper 2:

 Economic History of India: 1857-1947 – Tirthankar Roy

• The New Oxford Companion to Economics in India – Edited by Kaushik Basu
• Indian Economy Since Independence - Uma Kapila
• Economic Survey: Current & Last year

To get the complete list of Economics Books for UPSC, follow the link shared here.

Psychology

• Introduction to Psychology Morgan & King
• Systems & Theories of Psychology Krawiec & Chaplin
• Psychology by Morgan and King
• Psychology by Ciccarelli
• Social Psychology Baron & Byrne
• Theories of Personality Hall & Lindzey
• Psychology Robert A Baron
• Statistics for Psychology by Aron, Aron, Coups
• Social Psychology by Robert Baron, Branscombe, Gopa Bhardwaj, Byrne
• Tests, Measurements and Research Methods in Behavioural Sciences by A K Singh – Bharti Bhawan publications
• Social Psychology by Robert Baron, Branscombe, Gopa Bhardwaj, Byrne
• The Psychology of Small Groups Shaw 

To get the complete list: Psychology Books for UPSC