I just came across a very interesting movie (in two parts) on mathematical hyperbolic spaces! (FYI they’re youtube files.) This movie should give some idea of what three-manifolds and hyperbolic spaces are – conveying the idea of a closed, connected, orientable three-manifold to a non-mathematical audience can be difficult (I always use two-dimensional analogues to illustrate the idea) but these kinds of movies should be able to help.
It’s kind-of mind blowing if you havn’t come across it before.
