India, Dec. 26 -- If there's a crisis of reading and reason in the world today, a large chunk of the blame must rest on the shoulders of the social media companies whose products once promised to democratise thought, unshackle knowledge and give people an equal platform to share and engage. Instead, they have turned the Internet into poisonous silos of competing misinformation that not only condone violence and prejudice but also threaten to chip away at the foundations of democracy. It follows that whenever authors turn their gaze on the Internet, it is through a decidedly unsympathetic lens.

Anurag Minus Verma's The Great Indian Brain Rot, stands out in this melee. The slim volume examines internet cultures in the world's most-populous...