In 1985, I returned to San Francisco after covering the horrific famine and conflict in Ethiopia for Newsweek and began looking for a more positive story for the human race. I noticed that in nearby Silicon Valley an explosion of innovation was fueling a digital revolution that might change all our lives. Although I was not interested in technology per se, the people inventing these new tools were an intriguing mystery.

That same year, Steve Jobs was forced out of Apple. He announced he was starting a new company, NeXT, and building a supercomputer to transform education. I’d found my story. I reached out to him through friends and gained unprecedented access to document him for LIFE magazine as he and his team built the NeXT computer. I ended up spending three years there.

Because Steve trusted me, so did the other leading innovators of Silicon Valley. I gained insider access to their secret labs, boardrooms, offices and homes for 15 years as they built the technology that shapes our world today. It was a time of extreme sacrifice, struggle and sublime creativity, and many paid a high price. There were divorces, ruined careers, billions made and then lost in tragic failure. One engineer I knew shot himself, another was committed to the psych ward and a manager went to prison for fraud.