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But which other children’s-book author would rhyme “effable” with “ineffable,” or declare that what most occupies a cat’s attention is its “deep and inscrutable singular Name”? One almost expects for the cats to purr “Shantih Shantih Shantih” before falling asleep.

In it, he writes about his house, his ideal reader, the language of chemistry, his preference of the “effable” over the “ineffable,” beetles, word origins and how a young person might prepare for a literary career.

On his debut comedy album, “Effable,” the fiercely smart stand-up Guy Branum, a veteran writer for “Chelsea Lately” and “Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell,” manages to be swaggeringly opinionated and sweetly vulnerable, as gifted with an argumentative rant as an old-fashioned punch line.

Only his, unlike Mr. Rangel's, is effable.

Given the persistent norms of growth-driven economics, can the values of life, both direct – as in the filtration of stream water –- and less effable — as in the howling chorus of a pack of wolves –- be better integrated into how communities live today and make decisions about the future?