Absolutely hands down this: http://www.amazon.com/Memory-Book-Classic-Improving-School/d...

Within a day I was memorizing lists of 75 items forwards AND backwards. Completely random items as well.

It makes remembering names a joke, you will remember them for years.

I gave the book to my 15 year old brother and explained to him how much the book meant to me and that it was a very quick read (most of the good stuff is in the first 2 chapters anyway)

Keep in mind hes 15.. 24 hours later he comes back to me with a list of 100 items (to outdo me).. lists them forwards and backwards. That's my boy.

I distinctly remember going to a salon one time and they had tons and tons and tons of bottles of gel, shampoo, hair products lined up in a styled fashion along the middle of the wall going across the wall. by the time my haircut was done I turned around and listed off every shampoo bottle in order and the hair stylist was just like "WTF!!". She probably felt like i was a freak, but I felt really good.

Trust me, its great going to the grocery store and not needing a list, and coming up with all 35 items... makes you feel like a boss.

There was a different memory book suggested in the MeFi thread, but I really got a lot out of "The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play" http://www.amazon.com/The-Memory-Book-Classic-Improving/dp/0...

These techniques seem to be getting a lot of attention lately, but they've been written about extensively for a long time now. You don't hear much of these older books, but they're well worth looking at if you're interested in this topic:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Memory-Book-Classic-Improving/dp/0...

http://www.amazon.com/Use-Your-Perfect-Memory-Techniques/dp/...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Memory-Book-Remember-Anything/dp/1...

There are many others as well.

I was the same way. Foreign language was extremely difficult. Then I realized that memorization itself is a process that can be learned, improved, and mastered.

Once I began studying and learning the process of effective memorization, then foreign language became fun. It was a way to prove to myself that memorization techniques worked.

Granted, learning a language is more than just memorization of vocabulary. But elimination of that huge hurdle makes the rest more interesting and tractable.

I was tipped off to this by the best seller "The Memory Book" (which I highly recommend), but now there are plenty of web resources that may be as effective.

Here are some relevant links: http://www.amazon.com/Memory-Book-Classic-Improving-School/d... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorization (and click on all the links on this page)