Iron Maiden University
Iron Maiden University
‘Iron Maiden University’ is a list of all the books that Iron Maiden songs were based on; from ancient myths, to classical literature, to historical, naval, military and all other types of books. ‘Iron Maiden University’ is the university that has educated millions of Iron Maiden fans.
Book name: Phantom of the Opera
Author: Gaston Laroux
Year of release: 1909
This book inspired: Steve Harris
Inspiration for: The song of the same name
Translation: The book has been translated into multiple languages with many different editions.
“The Phantom of the Opera” is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in Le Gaulois from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pierre Lafitte. The novel is partly inspired by historical events at the Paris Opera during the nineteenth century, and by an apocryphal tale concerning the use of a former ballet pupil’s skeleton in an 1841 production of Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz. More.
Book name: Tam o’ Shanter
Author: Robert Burns
Year of release: 1790
This book inspired: Steve Harris
Inspiration for: The Number of the Beast
Translation: The poem has been translated into multiple languages with many different editions.
“Tam o’ Shanter” is a narrative poem written by the Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1790, while living in Dumfries. First published in 1791, at 228 (or 224) lines it is one of Burns’ longer poems, and employs a mixture of Scots and English. The poem describes the habits of Tam, a farmer who often gets drunk with his friends in a public house in the Scottish town of Ayr, and his thoughtless ways, specifically towards his wife, who waits at home for him. At the conclusion of one such late-night revel, after a market day. More.
Book name: Lord of the Flies
Author: William Golding
Year of release: 1954
This book inspired: Steve Harris
Inspiration for: The song of the same name
Translation: The book has been translated into multiple languages with many different editions.
“Lord of the Flies” is the 1954 debut novel of British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves. The novel’s themes include morality, leadership, and the tension between civility and chaos. Lord of the Flies was generally well received, and is a popularly assigned book in schools. Published in 1954, this was Golding’s first novel. He got the idea for the plot from The Coral Island, a children’s adventure novel. More.
Book name: Dune
Author: Frank Herbert
Year of release: 1965
This book inspired: Steve Harris
Inspiration for: To Tame A Land
Translation: The book has been translated into multiple languages with many different editions.
“Dune” is a 1965 epic science fiction novel by American author Frank Herbert, originally published as two separate serials (1963–64 novel Dune World and 1965 novel Prophet of Dune) in Analog magazine. It tied with Roger Zelazny’s This Immortal for the Hugo Award for Best Novel and won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966. It is the first installment of the Dune Chronicles. It is one of the world’s best-selling science fiction novels. Dune is set in the distant future in a feudal interstellar society.. More.
Book name: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Author: Samuel Taylor Colerdge
Year of release: 1798
This book inspired: Steve Harris
Inspiration for: The song of the same name
Translation: The poem has been translated into multiple languages with different editions.
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (originally The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere), written by English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1797–98 and published in 1798 in the first edition of Lyrical Ballads, is a poem that recounts the experiences of a sailor who has returned from a long sea voyage. Some modern editions use a revised version printed in 1817 that featured a gloss. The poem tells of the mariner stopping a man who is on his way to a wedding ceremony so that the mariner can share his story. More.
Book name: Holy Bible (New Testament)
Author(s): Various authors
Year of release: 80-90 AD, up to 382
This book inspired: Steve Harris
Inspiration for: The Number of the Beast
Translation: The book has been translated into multiple languages with many different editions.
“The New Testament” is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events relating to first-century Christianity. The New Testament’s background, the first division of the Christian Bible, is called the Old Testament, which is based primarily upon the Hebrew Bible; together they are regarded as Sacred Scripture by Christians. The New Testament is a collection of 27 Christian texts written in Koine Greek by various authors. More.
Book name: Where Eagles Dare
Author: Gaston Laroux
Year of release: 1909
This book inspired: Steve Harris
Inspiration for: The song of the same name
Translation: The book has been translated into multiple languages with many different editions.
“Where Eagles Dare” is a 1968 action adventure war thriller spy film directed by Brian G. Hutton and starring Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood and Mary Ure. Set during World War II, it follows a Special Operations Executive team charged with saving a captured American General from the fictional Schloß Adler fortress, except the mission turns out not to be as it seems. Alistair MacLean wrote the screenplay, at the same time that he wrote the novel of the same name. Both with commercial successes. More.
Book name: The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Author: Edgar Allan Poe
Year of release: 1841
This book inspired: Steve Harris
Inspiration for: The song of the same name
Translation: The poem has been translated into multiple languages with many different editions.
“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in Graham’s Magazine in 1841. It has been described as the first modern detective story; Poe referred to it as one of his “tales of ratiocination” C. Auguste Dupin is a man in Paris who solves the mystery of the brutal murder of two women. Numerous witnesses heard a suspect, though no one agrees on what language was spoken. At the murder scene, Dupin finds a hair that does not appear to be human. More.
Book name: The Charge of the Light Brigade
Author: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Year of release: 1854
This book inspired: Steve Harris
Inspiration for: The Trooper
Translation: The poem has been translated into multiple languages with many different editions.
“The Charge of the Light Brigade” is an 1854 narrative poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson about the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. He wrote the original version on 2 December 1854, and it was published on 9 December 1854 in The Examiner. He was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom at the time. The poem was subsequently revised and expanded for inclusion in Maud and Other Poems (1855). Tennyson wrote other similar poems, like “Riflemen Form!”, in a very similar manner. More.
Book name: Brave New World
Author: Aldous Huxley
Year of release: 1931
This book inspired: Steve Harris
Inspiration for: The song of the same name
Translation: The book has been translated into multiple languages with many different editions.
“Brave New World” is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hierarchy, the novel anticipates huge scientific advancements in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation and classical conditioning that are combined to make a dystopian society which is challenged by the story’s protagonist. More.
Book name: Dracula
Author: Bram Stoker
Year of release: 1891
This book inspired: Steve Harris
Inspiration for: Transylvania (partially)
Translation: The book has been translated into multiple languages with many different editions.
Dracula is Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. An epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking a business trip to stay at the castle of a Transylvanian nobleman, Count Dracula. Harker escapes the castle after discovering that Dracula is a vampire, and the Count moves to England and plagues the seaside town of Whitby. A small group, led by Abraham Van Helsing, investigate and hunt the vampire. More.
Book name: Julius Caesaer
Author: William Shakespeare
Year of release: 1599
This book inspired: Steve Harrs
Inspiration for: Ides of March (partially)
Translation: The book has been translated into multiple languages with many different editions.
Julius Caesar, is a history play and tragedy. In the play, Brutus joins a conspiracy led by Cassius to assassinate Julius, to prevent him from becoming a tyrant. Caesar’s right-hand man Antony stirs up hostility against the conspirators and Rome becomes embroiled in a dramatic civil war. Caesar’s murder, the funeral, Antony’s oration, the reading of the will, and the arrival of Octavius all take place on the same day in the play. However, historically, the assassination took place on 15 March (The Ides of March), the will was published on 18 March, the funeral was on 20 March, and Octavius arrived only in May.
Book name: Greek Myths and Tales
Author: Oral-poetic tradition from Ancient Greeks
Year of release: (any book with Greek myths)
These myths inspired: Steve Harris / Bruce Dickinson
Inspiration for: Prodigal Son / Flight of Icarus…
Translation: There are thousands of books on this topic in all languages..
The Book of Five Rings is a text on kenjutsu and the martial arts in general, written by the Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi around 1645. Many translations have been made, and it has garnered broad attention in East Asia and throughout the world. For instance, some foreign business leaders find its discussion of conflict to be relevant to their work. The modern-day Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū employs it as a manual of technique and philosophy. Go Rin no Sho calligraphed in Kanji. Musashi strove to be as great a master in Japanese calligraphy just as much as he did in swordsmanship. More.
Book name: The book of Five Rings
Author: Miyamoto Musashi
Year of release: 1645
This book inspired: Bruce Dickinson
Inspiration for: Sun and Steel
Translation: The book has been translated into multiple languages with many different editions.
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories concern the ancient Greek religion’s view of the origin and nature of the world; the lives and activities of deities, heroes, and mythological creatures; and the origins and significance of the ancient Greeks’ cult and ritual practices. Modern scholars study the myths to shed light on the religious and political institutions of ancient Greece, and to better understand the nature of mythmaking itself.
Book name: The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants
Author: Ramsey Campbell
Year of release: 1964
This book inspired: Steve Harris
Inspiration for: Still Life (partially)
Translation: The book has been translated into multiple languages with many different editions.
The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by British author J. Ramsey Campbell, who dropped the initial from his name in subsequent publications. It was released in 1964 by Arkham House in an edition of 2,009 copies and was the author’s first book. The stories are part of the Cthulhu Mythos. Campbell had originally written his introduction to be included in the book The Dark Brotherhood and Other Pieces under the title “Cthulhu in Britain”. However, Arkham’s editor, August Derleth, decided to use it here (retitled “A Word from the Author”). More.
Book name: Quest For Fire
Author: J.-H. Rosny
Year of release: 1911
This book inspired: Steve Harris
Inspiration for: ‘Quest for Fire’ song
Translation: The book has been translated into multiple languages with many different editions.
The Quest for Fire (French: La Guerre du feu, literally The War of Fire) is a 1911 Belgian fantasy novel by J.-H. Rosny, the pseudonym of two brothers; the author was actually the elder of the two, Joseph Henri Honoré Boex (1856–1940). It was first published in English in an abridged edition in 1967.It was adapted into the critically acclaimed 1981 film Quest for Fire starring Ron Perlman. The film is not a faithful adaptation of the book. The Quest for Fire takes place in 100,000 BC in Europe. More.
Book name: Les Prophéties
Author: Michel de Nostredame (Nostradamus)
Year of release: 1555
This book inspired: Bruce Dickinson (partially)
Inspiration for: ‘Die With Your Boots On’ song
Translation: The book has been translated into multiple languages with many different editions.
Les Prophéties (The Prophecies) is a collection of prophecies by French physician Nostradamus, the first edition of which appeared in 1555 by the publishing house Macé Bonhomme. His most famous work is a collection of poems, quatrains, united in ten sets of verses (“Centuries”) of 100 quatrains each. The first edition included three whole Centuries and 53 quatrains. The book begins with a preface, in the form of a message to his son César, followed by the Centuries themselves. The second edition was published in the same year and has minor differences from the first. More.
Book name: The Collected Poems
Author: G.K. Chesterton
Year of release: 1954
This book inspired: Bruce Dickinson (partially)
Inspiration for: ‘Revelations’ song
Translation: The book has been translated into multiple languages with many different editions.
This hardcover book titled “The Collected Poems of G.K. Chesterton” is a must-have for any book collector or fan of the famous author. Printed in 1950, the twelfth edition, by Methuen, this book contains a collection of Chesterton’s poems and is wrapped in a dust jacket. The book is in great shape and is a wonderful addition to any bookshelf. The book measures approximately 7 inches by 5 inches. It is bound to be a valuable addition to any library due to its rarity and the quality of the printing. This book is perfect for anyone who appreciates the artistry and literary prowess of G.K. Chesterton. More.
Book name: A History of Indian Philosophy
Author: Surendranath Dasgupta
Year of release: 1932, 1932, 1940, 1949, 1955
This book inspired: Bruce Dickinson (partially)
Inspiration for: ‘Revelations’ song
Translation: These books have been translated into multiple languages with many different editions.
Dr Surendranath Dasgupta’s in-depth work is mainly intended to provide a holistic exposition of Indian thought, based on original texts and commentaries. Occasionally, however, the author has discussed the views of other writers in the assessment of the chronology of facts.Years of dedicated study and painstaking collation of data yielded this phenomenal collection of all the strains of philosophic thought propagated by various schools and philosophers in India down the ages. Originally published in five volumes, the last being posthumous, A History of Indian Philosophy remains a seminal work for scholars and students alike. Perhaps Bruce Dickinson did not read exclusively this set of books, but in this set of books you will find absolutely all the answers to his references to Indian philosophy. More.
Book name: The H.P. Lovecraft Collection
Author: H.P. Lovecraft
Year of release: From 1916 to 1936
This book inspired: Bruce Dickinson, Derek Riggs
Inspiration for: ‘Revelations’ and Moonchild songs (as an example) and cover for ‘Live After Death’ album.
Translation: These books have been translated into multiple languages with many different editions.
One book will be added every day
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