Here's a quick thread on CSS books.

Most academic books in any local shop recycle online articles, print them word to word, even if the information within the articles is outdated. Other books regurgitate the exact same information found in similar books but in a different order

What mostly happens is that aspirants end up with lots of books + wastage of funds and with no resource which can actually expand on the "breadth" of the topic, since the same information is being replicated.

To avoid this pressing issue, let's first revisit what I've previously focused on and then move on to how to select appropriate books for your CSS preparation.

Remember, we will focus on increasing the breadth of our knowledge rather than depth.

1. Local books should be a secondary resource for your prep, not necessarily the primary one (exceptions include a few topics here and there such as ones in Sociology, Gender Studies etc)

2. Local books contain theoretical/foundational/conceptual information only on which you can start to build your knowledge.

They by no means provide comprehensive analysis which is mostly required in questions.

3. The aforementioned point should suffice but at the cost of repetition I will say this again:

no one book is enough for any CSS subject.

Purchasing books at a store is a time-consuming process. So make sure you've plenty of time at hand before you make sensible choices.

Mind you, this thread is mostly for local academic publications such as books by Jehangir, World Times, Caravan publishers etc.