Food
Food taxonomies are probably the most popular: after all, who doesn’t love food?
Condiments go on or in so much food, they seem like a good place to start.
Vegetables are definitely good for you, even if you don’t like to eat them. But, you can probably find at least one that you do like in a taxonomy this comprehensive.
If you don’t like vegetables, maybe meat is your thing? Cuts of Beef shows every possible cut from cows, where it comes from, how to cook it and approximate cost.
Cheese comes from cows (and other mammals), and there is a ton of diversity in your cheese choices.
If you’re looking for more of a pre-assembled meal, Fish and Chips can show you all of the possible combinations for the iconic meal.
Drinks
After you’ve eaten, it’s time to wash it all down.
Beer is a great way to finish off a meal (in moderation of course).
And if you want to know Who Owns Each Beer Brand, there’s a taxonomy for that too.
Wine is another fine drink to have with a meal, and seeing them all organized into a hierarchy can help you choose which one.
Many people like coffee, but finding the right flavor can be hard. Luckily, the Coffee Flavor Wheel shows you a comprehensive list.
And for something a little lighter, Tea is a great drink.
Words
Language is interesting because it’s what we use to create taxonomies, but it can also be the subject of a taxonomy.
Arse is a very versatile word, and gets used for many different things.
Equally diverse is that which every arse creates: Sh&*.
Super Powers
Things don’t have to be real to be classified – and we have always been fascinated with special abilities.
The fictional universe of the X-Men has its own family tree.
The X-Men all have special abilities, and of course there are taxonomies about the powers themselves.
Sometimes, these hierarchies can get absurdly detailed—almost to the point of parody. Someone, somewhere, has probably tried to map out exactly how superpowers like telepathy branch into empathic listening skills versus mind-control or beetle telekinesis (if that’s even a thing). The logic can get dizzying if you stop and try to actually keep track. Yet, there’s something satisfying about seeing imagination dissected with the cold precision of a spreadsheet. That’s just how human brains seem to work, like we’re wired to organize even total nonsense into neat boxes.
And if one wasn’t enough, there’s a more in-depth taxonomy of super powers.
Music
Music is a natural topic to categorize.
How Music Travels shows both a taxonomy of musical styles and the influences and interactions between styles.
And even if you break it down to one genre, there are still things like Rapper Names to categorize.
Sometimes the process of breaking things down goes a little off the rails, especially in music genres. Sub-sub-genres pop up overnight, and debates over labels get nearly existential—was shoegaze really just dreamy rock, or its own galaxy? I mean, try asking five people to explain “post-punk revival” without starting a small argument. The lines are weirdly blurry, but that makes for even more complex and colorful taxonomy charts. Maybe it’s less about clarity and more about joining in the sorting game, confusion and all.
Life
This is a huge category because it encompasses everything we do and everything that lives on the planet with us.
Even life itself can be made into a taxonomy.
Some might argue that life is all about Ideas. Whether or not you agree, there’s a taxonomy for ideas.
Unfortunately, all life ends eventually. 20th Century Death shows how it usually happens to people in recent times.
Drew Skau is Visualization Architect at Visual.ly and a PhD Computer Science Visualization student at UNCC with an undergraduate degree in Architecture. You can follow him on twitter @SeeingStructure
