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Steve Jobs, speaking to his colleagues in 1986, explains how he believes technology evolves in 10-year cycles. This photo of the late tech visionary was taken by photographer Doug Menuez, who was given total access to Jobs shortly after Jobs was fired by Apple and started working on the NeXT Computer. "I told him I wanted to document his comeback and inventing this computer from the beginning to shipping, and I also wanted to sort of see his process of innovation and just capture that -- almost like visual anthropology," said Menuez, author of the book "Fearless Genius: The Digital Revolution in Silicon Valley 1985-2000." Doug Menuez/Atria Books
Billionaire Ross Perot invested more than $20 million into NeXT after this lunch pitch at the site of a future NeXT factory. Doug Menuez/Atria Books
Jobs outlines the "digital revolution" at a company meeting in Sonoma, California, in 1986. Doug Menuez/Atria Books
A young NeXT employee works on an early Macintosh computer at a company retreat in 1986. "Steve protected me," photographer Doug Menuez said. "He introduced me to the company and told them to let me do what I do, because -- trust me -- it was very secretive back then just as it is now." Menuez's work with Jobs eventually opened up access to other Silicon Valley companies such as Adobe, Intel and Microsoft, and Menuez also put those photographs in the "Fearless Genius" book. The title, he said, refers to all of Silicon Valley, not just Jobs. Doug Menuez/Atria Books
Jobs considers a response while speaking with one of the original Macintosh engineers in Palo Alto, California. "I tried to stay out of his line of sight. ... Steve was terrifying to me because he could see right into your soul," Menuez recalled. "He could see your vulnerabilities and you didn't want to go one on one with Steve if you didn't have to." Doug Menuez/Atria Books
Jobs views a NeXT prototype in 1987. Menuez said Jobs is agonizing over the surface texture. "He was an interesting guy," Menuez said. "He was inspiring, he was maddening. We all have our scars from working with him because he could be brutal. But it was all in service of making that impossible thing, I think. He could cross the line and be abusive and you just had to fight for what you believed in and stand up to him." Doug Menuez/Atria Books
Jobs returns from an employee picnic in 1987. "Although Steve could be extremely rude, critical and even vindictive, he also was incredibly joyful most of the time, with an infectious grin and energy that was irresistible," Menuez said. "Still, I did not observe too many of the unrestrained moments of hilarity as shown here, while Steve was riding an old rented school bus with the company employees." Doug Menuez/Atria Books
Jobs kicks around a beach ball at a company picnic in 1987. "Years later, he told me that I was going to have a lot of fun with these pictures someday," Menuez remembers. "In fact, I think that's one of the last conversations we had in the early '90s. He was just so exciting to be around. He'd come into that building on fire every day in a great mood. He had a million ideas going. And he was inspiring, he was committed 100% and he expected everybody in that room to be on the bus to the future or, you know, get the f*** out. 'We're going to invent this thing that no one's ever done, and it's going to be really hard. How much are you willing to sacrifice? Everything? OK, good.' " Doug Menuez/Atria Books
Susan Kare, center, was co-founder and creative director at NeXT, and she left with Jobs after his ouster at Apple. Kim Jenkins, right, was a key member of the NeXT marketing team. Doug Menuez/Atria Books
Jobs gives a pep talk to his employees shortly before the NeXT launch in 1988. Menuez said Jobs liked the photos he took. "Actually he was framing pictures all through the years and putting them up on the walls," Menuez said. "I remember he had Ansel Adams -- and me -- on his wall. It was pretty funny." Doug Menuez/Atria Books
Fans and journalists waited for hours outside a San Francisco symphony hall for the introduction of the NeXT Computer in 1988. "The general response was tremendously positive, with dozens of magazines featuring Steve on their covers, heralding his comeback," Menuez said. "But his core customer base in education was enraged at the $10,000 price tag after being promised an affordable computer." Doug Menuez/Atria Books
The completed NeXT prototype is covered in black velvet shortly before its official launch. Despite the NeXT's commercial failure, "there was so much special stuff in that that I kind of thought it would redeem itself -- and it did," Menuez said. "The World Wide Web was invented on a NeXT computer, for example." NeXT was eventually bought by Apple, Jobs was brought back to the company, and the rest is history. Doug Menuez/Atria Books
