Where do they get passage for the reading comprehension section in CAT?

This is probably the most I have spent on answering a post on Facebook. I hope all the google-fu was worth it. So, without further ado - here is the list.

CAT 2004 - Passage about Tsavo Maneless Lions was fromNational Geographic

CAT 2004 - Passage on New Imperialism and New Mercantilism was from the book Perspectives on World Politics By Richard Little, Michael Smith

CAT 2005 - Passage on conflicts was from the book Prisoner's Dilemma: A Study in Conflict and Cooperation By Anatol Rapoport, Albert M. Chammah

CAT 2005 - Passage on Globalization and Edwardian Summer was from The Guardian 

CAT 2005 - Passage about Derrida / Logocentralism was from the book Work, Postmodernism and Organization: A Critical Introduction By Philip Hancock, Melissa Tyler

CAT 2006 - Passage about Communism was from The Guardian 

CAT 2006 - Passage about justice is from the book A Theory of Justice by John Rawls

CAT 2006 - Passage about science and dogmatic belief is from the book
Arguing about Science By Alexander Bird, James Ladyman

CAT 2007 - Passage about human history is from the book Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (The only book that I have read from the list and highly recommend) 

CAT 2007 - Passage about paradigms and traditions is from the book
Knowledge and Postmodernism in Historical Perspective By Joyce Oldham Appleby

CAT 2007 - Passage about civilization and creativity is from the book Reflexivity And The Crisis of Western Reason by Barry Sandywell

CAT 2007 - Passage about human behavior is from the bookSociology by Steve Bruce

CAT 2008 - Passage about language is from the bookCommunication Studies by Andrew Beck 

CAT 2008 - Passage about Ice Cream is from the essay How to Eat Ice Cream by Umberto Eco

CAT 2008 - Passage about Mayan Civilization is from the bookCollapse by Jared Diamond

And here are the insights:

• The passages are mostly from esoteric books.
• There are also passages from global magazines / newspapers as well.
• More often than not these are opinion pieces and data heavy in nature.

If you are planning to game the system to do better in the CAT, I don't think it is possible. Also, I don't think reading esoteric books is a good idea to improve your Reading Comprehension skills. There are easier and better ways.

In my online CAT course available on Handa Ka Funda here:http://handakafunda.com/online you will find detailed video solutions to all the RC passages that have come in CAT along with tips and tricks to do better in that section.