I don't think there's 'best' one. It's more of a PEBCAC situation. Maya is the industry standard, blender is free and heaps of tutorials out there, Zbrush is fun if you like sculpting. There's also 3ds.
Yes... 3d Rendering programs are more or less you own personal "weapon of choice". They all have their pros and cons. just try a few and see with which one you feel most comfortable with
I started from Maya because I bought a tutorial for it. Learnt the basics of vertices, edges, faces etc. And then transferred that basics to blender. All I had to relearn was the UI for blender
For some time, I actually meshed in Maya, transfer it to blender to texture. A lot of people also do Maya for the base mesh, bring to Zbrush to detail, bring to elsewhere for texturing.
Exactly, there's not a "best" program for this, just one you feel comfortable with. Start trying out the free ones (like Blender) and if you like it, then that's your best program. Else, keep trying