Published in 1909 by Jerome K. Jerome, The Philosopher's Joke tells the tale of six people in their forties, all now unhappy with their current spouses, who are tricked by Emmanuel Kant's ghost into reliving the last twenty years of their lives. Not one of Jerome's funnier pieces, but a very introspective character study that would have made a great eighties Alan Alda film (Four Seasons meets The Butterfly Effect?).

Synchronicity: I read The Philosopher's Joke after reading some essays by Schopenhauer - both at random - so I was pleasantly surprised when this story touched on many of the themes discussed by Schopenhauer's maxims, including how age can affect perception and the differences between the young and old mindsets, and even includes the line "As a certain philosopher has clearly proved: the universe is only the result of our own perceptions." ( )

http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext97/jjphj10.txt

Interesting. "Time travel" of sorts require six people to reevaluate their lives in the "present" to prepare for the future. The ending is a bit confusing.