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https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-world-really-works-book-review-putting-it-all-together-11651848551

‘I just want to say one word to you. Just one word . . . Plastics.” Such is the memorable career advice given to the aimless 21-year-old Benjamin Braddock, played by Dustin Hoffman, in “The Graduate” (1967). The plastics industry was, and is, the symbol for everything uncool: an inauthentic material, the boring bourgeois business of making and selling it, all with a whiff of environmental unfriendliness.

Yet plastics are, according to Vaclav Smil, one of the “four pillars” of modern civilization, along with ammonia, steel and concrete. While the notorious drink bottle destined to pollute the ocean is the stereotypical image of plastics, moldable synthetic materials make possible everything from lightweight vehicles to pipelines to medical equipment.

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This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.