The Witling by Vernor Vinge

Published by DAW, NO. 179, 173 pages. A nice Mass Market copy with scuffing and edgewear to the covers. A First Edition copy, squared, tightly bound with an unmarked interior. "By the standards of the planet Giri the travellers from outer space were 'witlings'. For a peculiarity of evolution on Giri had given to all its living things a special talent - one which made unnecessary most of the inventions of intelligent beings elsewhere. Roads, aircraft, engines, doors. These were the products of witlings, not of "normal" people."