Five Great Reads: the myth of Captain Cook, remembering office life, and that dun dun duuun sound

A statue of Captain James Cook during a protest in Melbourne in November. The naval explorer was once worshipped as a deity but now his statues are being defaced across the lands he visited. Photograph: Con Chronis/AAP

1. Captain Cook crashes to earth

When Captain James Cook first cast anchor in a black sand bay in Hawaii, he was worshipped as a god – so the story goes. Cook departed Hawaii but was forced to return eight days later because of a storm – and he was clubbed to death. In a remarkable long read, Anna Della Subin probes for the reality behind this story, and finds more disease than divinity.