If you are learning Japanese, this is the book to pick up. Nothing is more important then learning the basics first. And this book gives you everything basic you can hold in your hand. In the beginning of the book, it gives you a back story of the man who invented TUTTLE. As soon as I stumbled upon the Tuttle Collection, it has been a blessing. And so far, learning Japanese has been a blast!
After reviewing the man behind the name in a paragraph or two. It gives you information on how to use the book, vowel pronunciations and even the past of the character sets themselves. Don't worry, it doesn't overload you with textbook definitions. It gives you brief and to the point back story's. Trust me, none of it is a waste of your time. All of it is useful and interesting information.
The Hiragana Chart is then introduced and you learn how to write them. This is important. If you are going to write in Japanese , you need to know the stroke order and stroke types. It keeps it neat and legible. When I first started using it I immediately wanted to buy another one. So I suggest, buy two or copy the pages so you can keep practicing off paper. The book provides wonderful practice as well as memorable mnemonics and vocabulary. When you're done with learning how to write them, there's an activity section. Where you are putting what you learned into use. It helps you remember the characters as well as their stroke order. Then when you're done with Hiragana, the exercise begins again with Katakana.
Though I would not recommend this to someone to learn Katakana and Hiragana straight out. But if it is what you want to try, go for it. I would offer this book to someone to learn how to write them and make their memory of the characters concrete.
If you want to use something to help you learn them, there are many resources on your Nintendo DS (I DON'T recommend Japanese Coach). And there are many free options on your Android Phone like JA Sensei, Kana Mind, Qwiz-Hiragana and more. You won't know until you start looking. The more fun it becomes for you, the easier it will become to learn.
The CD has a large number of names in katakana so you can look up your name in japanese. It even has flash cards with the same mnemonics images that are in the book.
This is a great tool, get it while its still cheap and they don't realize what they're selling.