How necessary is anchoring a bookshelf to drywall?

[Little_Nemo]

@flatlined

Many people like to face their books so the spines are lined at the front of the shelves. This could cause an Ikea bookcase to become unstable. That being said, I’ve never had a book case fall over, and I have cats.

That’s a good point. I was assuming you’d have the books pushed in to the back of the shelf. This means the center of gravity has the shelf leaning in to the wall. If you have the books at the front of each shelf, the center of gravity will also move forward and make the shelf less stable.