I'm applying to university (Archaeology & the Classics) in the fall and I've been reading up on my (to this point) favourite ancient civilization, the Etruscans. I've been going through university class syllabi and making note of what's on the recommended reading lists and reading those books, but I haven't seen Pallottino mentioned, and his book (the translated version of) The Etruscans is the only physical book about the Etruscans I own. Is it worth reading? As far as I'm aware his work is still of note but I don't want to spend time reading anything that's been disproven or updated (at least not while I'm working in a limited time frame). Thanks!
Massimo Pallottino was a giant in the field of Etruscan studies. The Etruscans 1975 was an important entry and summation of his work up to that time, in a more compact form, and was a very important entry as far as English-language scholarship on the Etruscans. You are right that it is a little dated now, 45 years later. There have been some very good English-language publications on the Etruscans since then which should probably take a higher priority for you, though they will draw heavily on Pallottino's work. Here is a review of one such work, and this review includes a nice survey of the recent literature on Etruscans you can use. And in general, Bryn Mawr Classical Review is perhaps the place to look for academic reviews and critiques of new publications which pertain to the ancient Mediterranean. Nota bene that not all the reviews there are always high quality, since I wrote at least one there which could have been much better and more thorough in hindsight.
And if you are serious about pursuing Etruscan studies in the future, go ahead and start Italian now if you have not already. It will be essential!