Goodreads asked Amanda Ripley:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Amanda Ripley As a reporter for Time and the Atlantic, I kept hearing about these supposedly brilliant countries -- places like Finland and South Korea, which were educating virtually all their kids to high levels of critical thinking. But I could not find a satisfying explanation for how these places had gotten so smart. So I wanted to see these countries myself--ideally through the eyes of kids.

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