I originally reviewed What Color Is Your Parachute? in five parts, which you can find here, here, here, here, and here if you would like to read the original comments. What Color Is Your Parachute? is the eighteenth of fifty-two books in The Simple Dollarâs series 52 Personal Finance Books in 52 Weeks.
Thallium is extremely soft, malleable and sectile enough to be cut with a knife at room temperature. It has a metallic luster that, when exposed to air, quickly tarnishes to a bluish-gray tinge, resembling lead. It may be preserved by immersion in oil. A heavy layer of oxide builds up on thallium if left in air.
Thallium is not produced in the US. Approximately 4,500 lbs. of thallium and its compounds were reportedly imported in 1987. Man-made sources of thallium pollution are gaseous emission of cement factories, coal burning power plants, and metal sewers.