Hiragana or Katakana first?

I'm a complete beginner and want to learn the language. I've done research and know about the three different scripts (Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji). Obviously Kanji should be learnt last due to the amount of characters and difficutly.

So out of the two Kana what should I learn first? Hiragana or Katakana.

I recommend learning both. It takes just a few hours or days to initially memorize the roughly 100 characters. It is really not very difficult, especially if you are motivated.

After initial memorization, you can then engrave them into your brain by reading, writing exercises and watching Japanese television.

I agree, learn then both first, doens't really matter which you start with, though most like myself start with Hiragana (and so do the Japanese when they start). If you study a handful a day you should be able to remember them all pretty quickly, just buy a hirgana/katakana kana book and practice.

I think I will start with Hiragana and then move on to Katakana. There's a whole load of books out there and I don't really know what to choose from. One that seems to have got a lot of good reviews is "
Let's Learn Hiragana: First Book of Japanese Writing" by Yasuko Kosaka Mitamura. He also published a Katakana version. Have you read these or can you recommend one?