I was surprised at how sturdy these bookcases are (we purchased two of them).  The only confusing part about putting them together was that it was not clear that you put all the dowels in place before screwing in the screws.  And thank goodness we had a battery operated drill with the right types of screw heads.  Why on earth would they require both phillips-head and hex screw types?  But they do include a hex wrench in case you don't have one.  And the finished products look very nice.  Those little wooden stoppers just slide on and off and you can either use them or not to help hold up books.  I'd definitely recommend these small but sturdy bookcases.