I've missed a lot of Buchanan's views in the past two decades, and have long since forgotten what made me write him off.
One of several books I've read on the subject of Scottish achievements is Duncan Bruce's "Mark of The Scots."
Buchanan does pride himself on his knowledge and research in history, and considers himself to be somewhat of a historian.
Occasionally, when he isn't talking about politics and does talk about scottish history, he is very poetic about it...though I disagree with how he ranks himself in terms of famous achievements by scots.
He is definatly an expert though on scottish history and has also done a great deal of genology research into his own family even finding some long lost relatives.