Most of us will have to practice for months and months and months. This isn't true. I've used this technique to memorize and recite the alphabet backwards. I a

Most of us will have to practice for months and months and months. This isn't true. I've used this technique to memorize and recite the alphabet backwards. I also use it to memorize trig identities (I keep them in my silverware drawer, mentally). It's not "easy", but it only took one (entire) night of practice to recite the alphabet backwards. If I can, then almost anyone can. Imagine the biggest house/apartment you've lived in. The only important criteria is that you've spent enough time there to have a clear, crisp picture of every room without physically being there or looking at photos. Now look around. Take note of each "container" -- bins, cabinets, drawers, and even furniture like chairs, tables, and couches (because you can set things on them). Memorize a specific path through your house. It sounds hard when I phrase it like that, but it's not. Just start at your front door and mentally walk through your house, opening cabinets/drawers and visiting rooms in a specific order. The order is all that matters. As you go along, imagine what it would look like if there were literally an alphabet in your house. Starting from the front door, a big red hairy "A" is blocking your path, so you go around it. Then as you pass your hallway closet, you notice a shiny blue "B" isn't doing a very good job of being inconspicuous. And so on. (It helped me to make them distinctive, so I use a lot of color and tactile imagery like hairy/furry/velvety/shiny. Even smelly. Just use your imagination.) Remember -- you have to make sure you always are traversing in a specific order. The room with the "A" to the room with the "B" etc. Since most of us don't have 26 different rooms, you'll have to use your containers too, and also cram a few letters together into one area. (Never more than three in a bin, though, unless you're better at this than I am.) So in your livingroom, maybe S T and U are siting on your couch watching The Office, whereas X Y and Z are getting freaky in your bedroom. (Shocking imagery is easier to remember than the mundane, and you can use this to your advantage.) So. Got your path memorized? A to B to C etc...? Good. Now it's very easy: walk the path backwards. Z to Y to X... Speak the letters out loud as you go, and presto, you now possess a new (entirely useless) talent. It becomes much more useful for pretty much anything that benefits from rote memorization. (Just don't apply it to math very much otherwise you won't have more than a superficial understanding of the underlying concepts and connections.) It's quite handy for presentations.